Between Icebergs and Comets
by The Winds of Chaos
Summary: Ozai steals power that leaves the Fire Nation unstoppable as they conquer the world & without an Avatar the world is at the Fire Nation's mercy. Desperate to save their tribe, Katara & Sokka search for a safe passage to the North & find themselves caught in the middle of the war. War is never easy & they walk a road that leads them into the heart of the battle against the enemy. AU
1. Arc one, Introduction

****This story is AU, there isn't an Avatar in this world. We're following how the story moves forward if we take the Avatar out of the picture...and include a lot more bending lore.  
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The girl surged forward, iced sweat gripping the edges of her spine and stunted breaths clouding the dark air of her small room. Instead of screams that ravaged her throat, though, merely a ragged sigh clawed from her lips; she had grown used to the night terrors years ago. Always striking just before dawn, much like the attack that inspired them. At one point they horrified her, but now she simply used them to start her day-to drive her forward.

She rose, throwing off the thick polar furs and relishing in the frigid bite of the air. Gathering the weasel-rat skin canteen from her bedside and her favorite fur-lined parka, she left her family tent to begin her morning journey. The land was still dark, but watching the light that threatened to break through the horizon she knew dawn was almost upon her village. She watched as the weak light glinted off the icy frost gathered on the remains of her small tribe.

Blue boots crunched through the frost on the ground, cracking and rumbling as she steadily walked on; passing the meager huts of her tribesmen. She trailed through the center of her village, past the smokestacks and their community roundhouse, their practice hunting field came and went and finally she reached the outer limits of her village, signaled by her brother's lumpy "protective wall". She hardly broke stride, though, simply using a crude movement of her hands to bend herself a bridge over the wall, letting it dissolve behind her elephant-seal boots as she walked on.

Behind her village rose a steep ridge that crawled along one side of their lands like the arm of a lover, crooked and holding the village tight. Once, when they had more water-benders, _real_ benders, to aid the village- it had served as a means of escape during an attack. The tribesmen would burrow through the glacier ice and connect with the massive tunnels inside, traveling to freedom; now it only served as a noose, strangling her community's ability to preserve themselves during a battle.

At the base of the ridge, she stopped, craning her head to see the tip of the ice shear through the weak light around her. She took a steadying breath, reaching out to her element, feeling it pulse inside of her and buzz in her veins. Even frozen, the water around the blue eyed girl still had the pull and push of the great ocean it was born from. She seized the raw feeling of the current inside of her and channeled it into her rough bending style, she was no master and there were many things she had yet to learn, but years of watching the push and pull of her element had blessed her with crude but useful practices and forms. She used one now, covering her hands and boots in a swath of liquid ribbons; approaching the glacier she used the holds to climb the ragged side; freezing and unfreezing, clawing her way to the top. Finally, she crested the edge, trembling hands pulling her over the sharp sides; just as the sun pulled higher and breaking across the frozen tundra. She waved her hands and the fresh snow around her flew into a slumped pile, she fell to her knees grateful for the rest and looked out from her perch, waiting. The bite of the tundra winds was hard to avoid from this height, sharp teeth digging into her exposed skin, yet she still waited.

Her eyes wove across the frozen plains, nothing stirred. Then the blue orbs dipped and trailed the village below her. Smoke was just beginning to trail from the stacks, a smudged trail against the sunrise, yet nothing else spoke for any signs of life, so she continued waiting. Letting her eyes roam as, eventually, the sun extended his fingers over her world, cutting long trails of fire in the sky. The rays burned through the air, punching through the white purity of the tundra and letting her bleed out with reds and oranges, staining the lands pink and gold. Katara had no mind for the beauty of the sunrise, though, instead she snapped her eyes to the great ocean; watching it lap at the icy shores and feeling the undulation of her chi responding to her element. This wasn't about admiration, though, nor was this mediation, this was about stretching her senses. Pushing them as far out into the ocean waters as she could, searching for disturbances and waiting.

Life began to stir into the snowy world around her, her tribesmen were beginning to rise for another day on this frozen land- Katara did not rise to join them, though, she didn't sway from her kneeled position - only continued to watch the horizon and wait.

After the first attack, that she could remember as a young child, many of the men from her tribe left, heading to join the resistance far off in the Earth Kingdom. She knew this not from memory but from tales passed through hushed camp fire whispers in the Great Roundhouse when the elders thought the children were no longer listening. She had always listened to these tales, growing the hold in her heart where her culture and people lived.

The second attack, when she was older-almost eleven revolutions of the sun old-was the one she really remembered. How could she not?

That bloody sunrise had changed everything. Her beautiful home had been tainted, a fold of white snow had drifted over her home like a downy blanket; whitening everything else out. Then the white turned black, a sooty stain spreading like poison, decaying her perfect world and smothering her element, her home, her skin-everything dripped with black snow.

The children screamed in terror as the women of the tribe ushered them into safe homes; far away from the mouth of the village. She watched through young eyes as her brother was taken by their Gran-Gran to one of these homes. She remembered crying, fat tears falling down her rounded cheeks as she searched for her mother.

What was happening?

Her mother found her standing in the middle of the village, watching the men strap weapons to themselves and settle each other with thick Elephant-whale skins. Her mother pulled her up, holding her close and she breathed the smell of her, warm like the fire in the hut and comforting like rabbit-mouse stew. They ran for the back of the village, to the homes Katara knew hid the other women and children. They never made it, though, a deep thunk reverberated through their village and the ice under them shook knocking Kya's feet skidded over the ice. When they hit the snow, they stayed down as her mother, Kya, instead turned them over desperate to see what the men were yelling about. That's when Katara saw what made their home shake.

An iron beast had penetrated the ice of their village, a sharp spike sprung from the boat like a tooth from the maw of a demon, slicing into the ground and letting men in thick red armor spew from the ship's cavernous mouth like a rotting stench. These invaders poured forward, men with bone slits for faces and flames for hands stretched into her small tribal home. Defending, their men sprung on these invaders, tribal blues attempting to smother the sickening flames that infected their home, like a moon salve on a burn. She heard shrill screaming and felt her mother's arm constrict around her as they watched her father, the chief, jump into the battle with the other men, his beaded Wolf tail swinging into action as his spear drove into these men. Just the way she'd seen him do a thousand times before, during hunting season.

The red devils spoke then, as her mother scuttled them towards a nearby hut; out of sight from the battle-it was too dangerous to head towards the safe huts now. Her mother put her down, holding a gloved hand to her lips, a signal to be quiet and slowly she started making her way towards the outskirts of the skirmish. Katara alternated between watching her mother's retreating figure and the battle, searching for her father.

The red devils were still speaking, demanding the last water bender in the tribe. Hope surged through the small girl, she was the last water bender! Maybe if she showed herself, they'd see that she was too young to know how to use her bending, maybe they would leave? She started to crawl forward from her hiding spot, her mother's warning to stay rang in her head but she shook the words away, She could save her village, stop the fighting. She stood, stumbling towards the fight; watching as the fire blazed against the thick hides the men of her village had wrapped themselves in. The sounds of blades ringing against the metal men spread through the air in front of her, clanging around in her head. She skid as she hit a patch of slick ice, stumbling and almost in a daze, she pushed forward. She could do this-they were just men, not demons. Under that armor there had to be people just like her, surely they would understand. She looked for her mother briefly, saw that she had reached Hakoda. They were close together, arms entangled as they whispered urgently. Suddenly, her father's eyes snapped up, looking at her aghast and yelling-but she couldn't hear him over the clamor of the battle.

The other men were too busy defending their homes to notice the little girl coming closer to the battle, closer to the Red Devil calling for the water bender of the Southern Water Tribe. Too busy to notice how her mother had broken away from her father, racing across the snowy plains to reach her only daughter; too busy to see Hakoda having to defend from another attack; too busy to see a child's naivety getting ready to cost her everything.

Her mother overtook the smaller steps of her own child, racing towards the man breathing flames. The woman spared a single glace backward at Katara, eyes wide with fear but mouth set with determination as she flung herself into a bow at the man before them, hands raised. Her tribesmen were becoming overwhelmed, not being able to land any solid offensive strikes and her own father stared numbly ahead at his own wife, simultaneously respecting her sacrifice-the sacrifice of a mother and a chieftess and hating the upcoming cost as a man and husband.

The young water bender watched, confused at her mother's lies and her offered surrender. Why should she lie? Young eyes, wide with adrenaline watched as her father shouted, struggling to reach his wife through the battles around him. Little Katara wanted to race forward, show the red devil how she could make a water globe and make him go home on his smoke blowing ship, but she stood frozen; watching her mother's shuddering figure and her would-be captor's face. Kya's head jerked upwards as the man before her bellowed with a harsh laughter, Hakoda's face drained as understanding coursed through him and he fought harder. Snarling, slicing through clusters of limbs to clear a path.

"Foolish woman, as if we could spare our resources for the likes of you? For some tribal savage?" His voice rang out, laced with hatred and arrogance as a smirk twisted it's way on to his face.

Kya tried to jerk away from the towering man, horror etching itself on her face, but her crawl backward was too slow to escape the reaches of the monster before her. He snagged the hood of her parka, using it to secure the back of her neck and Katara watched in revulsion as he used it to pull her face towards himself. The tribal men around her began revolting at her capture, turning into wraiths on the battlefield, yet it was for naught. Kya pulled herself free, shaking her tribal braids out of the man's grasp before setting her face into a mask of determination. Katara watched her straighten out, the posture of a chieftain entering her bones even as the man cruelly narrowed his eyes.

"We take no prisoners away with us today, water wretch" he spat out, "Your little tribe will remember what it means to defy the graciousness of the Fire Lord."

Innocent blue eyes widened as this man with eyes as yellow as a seeping wound grabbed for her mother's throat, pulling her forward. This man so full of fire and hatred summoned a roaring flame with his free hand, holding it high before releasing it, letting it soar like a comet through the air and delivering such a brutal blow to her mother's still form. A shrill scream tore through her throat and tears fell quick and warm down her face. She raced forward as the red devil threw her mother's blackened body to the ruined snow. She no longer heard the devil's words, too incensed by her own grief as she beat down on her mother's chest yelling, pleading, begging for her to get up. She felt pain explode in her side as the fire demon behind her kicked her with the pointy boots he wore, yelling for her to quit being a fool; making fun of the savage child beating on her savage mother's dead body. She crumpled over her mother, tracing the lines of her parka and listening for a heartbeat that had to be there. Mothers couldn't just leave their children so young, life didn't work like that surely.

The smell of smoke and burned flesh wrapped around her, thick and unadulterated-filing her head and burning her lungs with the foulness. The world and this cruel, evil man faded; the image of her father, fallen to his knees and his men, defeated, left her mind as she fell into a world of blackness; she collapsed into the snow, feeling her mother's final embrace.

She woke later, crusty tear tracks scarring her face and an empty home as her greeting, with her mother's betrothal necklace wrapped around her own throat. She woke no longer a child. Instead, she felt haunted, living on her mother's borrowed time. With agony sweeping through her the thought of rising to join her people was so perverse that she burrowed deeper into the furs around her, blocking out all thoughts except for the way her mother's smooth necklace felt against her skin and how the ribbon it rested upon still smelled like smoke and skin. Later, she fell into a fitful sleep, waking again when her father crept into the hut slumping into his own bed of furs, alone.

He left soon after her mother's death. He and the remaining men had gone off to join the resistance as revenge for her mother, another life burned so short by the Fire Nation. Their departure was painful, Sokka begging to go with them but instead he was told to say and protect what was left of their village. Katara had never seen her brother so shamed looking, his warrior face paint streaked where tears marks cut patterns on his cheeks. Hakoda left then, leaving them with their Gran-Gran and village. Blue eyes watched as her father's ship left port and even as the other villagers filtered away to resume their day, she stayed. Waiting for the ship to disappear on the horizon, it was then that she decided that dawn would never launch with another surprise from the Fire Nation. Their iron demon ships would never again crack the ice of her home, without her village being ready for them.

That attack and the Chief's voyage had been years ago, though, she was almost at her 16th sun revolution; every year was another year her father was missing and the void in her heart from this war grew wider with each day. With each day she woke before the sun, waiting and watching for a ship on the horizon-either her father's or a demon ship that would bring the curse of black snow. Then, every evening, she rose again with the moon; training with her element, straining every kata she could from her surroundings and the glorious moon above her. She was far from a master, but never again would she let herself be so helpless.

Shaking the vicious memories from her mind Katara noted that her village had nearly completely risen now. The women were finishing breakfast and the children would be training; either on the hunting fields with Sokka or in the schoolhouse with Kana, her Gran-Gran. The Blue eyed young woman leaned forward to relax her pitched stance as the sun was nearly fully peaked now and she would soon be needed below amongst her people. She braced to stand, moving her beaded braids from her line of vision. Flexing stiff muscles, she smiled as she headed towards the edge of her cliff; getting down was so much more fun and the climb up. She had just moved into her rough bending stance when the first few sparkles of black snow fell, catching her eye.

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 **TBC... DUN DUN DUN! What did you guys think? Yay, Nay? Let me know your thoughts in a review, where do you think this is headed?**

 **The next prompt is: love, hmmmm...wonder what I could do with that?**

 **~Winds of Chaos**


	2. Arc One, Love

**A/N: Hey Everyone! So here is the continuation of the 100-word challenge, this prompt being Love~**

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The steady chug of the steamboat echoed across the lapping ocean waves. The Captain stood firm, shoulders back, on the bow of the great vessel watching their progress. The voyage had been longer than expected, but finally, the farthest tip of the Southern Water Tribe lands had been reached. He breathed deeply, marveling the feeling of the frigid winds warming in his chest, before releasing a single controlled breath of steam. Fire-bending had it's perks, especially when he had to adventure into these less forgiving climates. A hard smirk crossed his face as his brown eyes narrowed; of course, Agni forsook this barren place which was why the people who live here would never prosper. The quiet was interrupted as he heard the quick pace of boots slapping against the metal floors.

"Captain Zhi! The men are ready to be briefed in the hull, Sir!" the boy reporting was no more than that. A young man, black hair pulled back and lankier than tall stood bowed before the Captain. He pulled gracefully out of his deep box though and stood alert, waiting to escort the Captain. With a quick nod from his superior, they descended into the fire lit depths below. The Captain's stride was steady, slow and measured as he pulled up in front of his men. Assembled here were some of his better raiders and a few newer recruits ready to cut their teeth on the field. This mission wasn't to be more than a passing bother, a good exercise to weed out the weaklings from his real warriors.

"Soldiers!" The Captain barked out, his lips thinning into a grim smile as he looked out at his gathered men. The group of men, fully dressed in gleaming red and gold armor bowed in unison before standing for instruction, the white bones masks upon their faces leaving the crowd impassive as they waiting to be addressed.

"Today is not about honor or glory. We will not go in like blazing comets burning through the valleys, but instead, we will rise from the embers our great nation had given us. Our Mission is simple: We will pass through this savage village-one where skins hang upon meager dwellings and search out their spirit bridge. The Bridge is the holy connection between this feeble speck of ice and snow and the glorious spirit world. If you find Air Monks servicing this great connection-"Here he paused, smiling cruelly while his dark eyes glittered menacingly in the flickering light-"Well. We take no prisoners. We end our enemies before rising in the ultimate power as, by Agni, our Fire Lord Ozai has been given the gift to harness these spirit energies! WHY! Why do these Water savages need such a connection? What do they have to show for being given this gift? Nothing! They have built nothing, they leave nothing, they are nothing! Our great nation, though, our Fire Nation can use this energy. Today we rise like the Phoenix that created our division, not for honor or glory but for the love of our great Nation!" Captain Zhi, so enamored by his own words did not realize that he was yelling by the end of his speech. The men watched in stunned silence for a beat while their Captain huffed for air in the dim room before rallying in a responding cry. Stamping thick boots on the cold metal floor and chanting for their nation.

They fought not to hurt or cause destruction, but because their nation was blessed. Each countryman loved the land of his people and knew that this nation, Their Nation, could spread it's ways to better the world under their own laws. The Fire Nation had security, power, wealth; they only wanted to enlighten the rest of the world, these lesser countries filled with heathens who could barely find food in their own harsh environment. They could have a better way of living if they could only embrace the warmth of the Fire Nation.

"Captain Zhi!, we've reached the main landmass" reported the same young officer from before. "Ready the land bridge! Phoenix troop-Rise!" Bellowed the Captain as he made his way to the top deck, followed by the ranks of his men. The bridge sliced through the mounds of snow, running warm from the engines; everything it touched began to melt away.

The Phoenix Troop began marching and the village opened up for their view as they descended down the bridge, white and blue swarmed their vision as they went. Captain Zhi heard a poorly hidden snort of laughter from one of his men as they beheld the village before them and it was just as meager as he had said. A few ice hovels spread around a larger hut, stamped together with snow and hide; laying crooked as if done by unpracticed hands. A campfire burned pitifully in the center of the _town,_ sputtering in the harsh wind with a looming smokestack in the background. A weak excuse of a defensive wall seemed to be lining the grounds and what looked like a hunting camp to the far side of the village. If the Captain squinted a little, he could almost fool himself into thinking the village had some kind of planning to it, but as his eyes narrowed beneath his faceplate he couldn't help a trickle of laughter himself. The only thing t change since his last voyage to this speck of ice and cold was a striking cliff overlooking the ocean and village. He looked at the jagged lines suspiciously before deciding that it had to be natural. No bender could create such a massive structure on their own and he had personally seen to ridding this tribe of their water-benders many suns ago. The only thing about the tribe that did surprise the returning invader was that it seemed nearly empty. Only two people stood in the whole village, what seemed like a darker skinned boy and girl, hunched by a snow drift near one of the animal skin huts.

"This is the best you savages could manage for a receiving party?" The Captain scoffed under his bone faceplate. His men snickered behind him and he smirked feeding off of their confidence. "Two children against a squadron of my best soldiers?" The boy in front of him slouched with practiced ease, shifting from one fur warped foot to the other. "It was such short notice! Couldn't you guys have sent, I don't know, a letter of arrival or something? Give us a heads up next time?" He gestured, arms wide, and his voice belaying a level of familiarity that did not settle well this invading squad. Though the boy wrapped in blue dyed furs hadn't raised his voice, it carried well enough on the winds; as did his piercing blue eyes which had yet to stray from the arriving men.

"What makes you think we would even spare the resources for a next time, tribal scum?" Spat Captain Zhi, the irritation that laced his voice was reflected by the steaming snow that gathered under his pointed boots. He shifted backward a foot as the boy before his burst with strained laughter, bending forward and clutching his sides "Waste the resources! That's a good one!" he chortled while elbowing the girl to his side; though she didn't move and hardly acknowledged his movements. Instead, she stared unblinkingly at the Captain. Only the deep blue of her eyes visible from under her thickly lined white fur hood. These were eyes that captivated the Captain, burned through him as he knew that he had seen them before, but couldn't place from when.

Suddenly the boy straightened, squaring his shoulders and dropping the pretense of friendliness. He was taller and broader than the Captain had originally thought, and his face was hard as he crossed his arms. "Sorry, but you fire benders are all the same with your "better than you" attitudes. This is the 3rd time the ship of the flaming bird has attacked our lands in my lifetime alone! But-Nah, we're not special or anything." The boy's sudden shift in demeanor prickled at the back of the Captain's neck like an itch he couldn't reach. The girl next to him still hadn't moved or spoken, he wasn't sure if she had even blinked. Where were the other villagers, surely it couldn't just be these two? Refusing to bristle under this child's antics in front of his men though the Captain crouched into a loose bending stance. He heard the clang of armor as behind him, his men did the same, yet the children seemed unaffected.

"Look Brat! I'm done playing. You will give me the information I'm looking for, or I'll burn it out of you" Captain Zhi spat, anger dripping from every thinly bladed word as he lit his fists for emphasis.

The boy pulled up his gloved hands, looking as if he was checking his nails for dirt before drawing in an unconcerned voice "and that is…?" He let the question stretch and hang between them.

"The location of your spirit bridge and the air monks that service it; by order of the Fire Nation you will direct us there or face punishment" Captain Zhi commanded, still feeling unease prickling through him like a second skin, he was positive he was missing something here.

The water tribe boy threw himself forward as he again took on the image of friendliness, "Oh! Why didn't you just say so?" He cried, throwing his arms out. "Okay, so first go a few miles north. Then when you hit the mating grounds of the Polar-roos you'll go left…" The boy launched into a full-breathed explanation of directions. Highlighting the path and warning about possible dangers along the journey such as various animals crossings and food deposits. As the Captain tried listening, he found the boy's voice fading out as the howling Arctic winds whistled through the slats in his face plate. He pulled out of his bending stance, nodding for his men to follow suit. This boy was clearly an idiot, one who would boldly lead them straight to the temple, the Captain thought; please with his good luck he began loosening the ties on his face plate to pull it forward. As he attempted to shift his footing he found his boots had refrozen into the ground below him. Had the ice reformed that quickly since melting only moments ago? Briefly puzzled he drew a breath to remelt the ice below him, but never took in the air. The girl before him had shifted during the Tribal boy's blathering and now she stood straight as a plank in the hurtling winds; her face contorted with such anger and hatred that her eyes had gone steely blue as she stared straight at the unmasked Captain's face. The pure vile animosity in the girl's stare pushed a shiver down the older man's spine, but before he would breathe a word of warning to the murderous looking girl; she clenched her fists and he could see no more.

His vision was obscured by a thick layer of ice and he found himself clawing at his helmet, struggling for air. He trailed his numb fingers across his face and head and found that every opening had been plugged with fine layers of ice. Panic began to bubble in his chest, growing louder in the hazy Captain's mind was one thought. Without air, he couldn't fire bend. He couldn't muster the fire he needed to melt this stupid icy trick. He turned to face his men and watched through the filmy ice as their shadowed figured hunched and scrambled; they must also be locked inside their own iced tombs; scrambling with frozen fingers against their solidified masks as the air grew thicker with the threat of suffocation. The Captain fell to a knee, choking and gasping in his dim final breaths. The water Tribe children stood in the distance, impassive as the invaders began to drop; growing weaker with each second. The Phoenix Troop tried desperately for air, as their lungs burned and bile began to rise; burning away at the back of their throats. The Captain could hear the sound of his own rushing blood as his vision grew darker before he fell forward onto the snow ground. His last thoughts were haunted by the bizarre children and the girl with steely eyes and cruel tricks.

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 **TBC** **…**

 **So, that was a bit darker than intended but I go where the muse takes me! The next prompt is Light. Let me know your thoughts! Good, bad? Questions, Guesses? Drop them in a review!**


	3. Arc one, Light

**A/N: Hey Everyone! So here is the continuation of the100 word challenge, this prompt being Light~ I am determined to use these words in unorthodox ways, by the way! Be on the look out for it :D**

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The water tribe boy blinked before ripping his eyes from the dead Fire Nation invaders. "Katara…" He trailed off at a loss for words. Suddenly his mouth had run dry and his stomach curled uneasily; rippling with this morning's sea prunes. He looked towards his sister, shock drowning his expression. "How did…" He tried again before his vision began to swim around the edges and he sat down on the snow drift they had stationed themselves by. Though he still watched her for a reaction, she wouldn't face him. The only movement was her gloved hand slowly released the fisted form she held and as he followed her line of sight, he caught the ice melting and draining away from the bone masks of the Fire Nation invaders. Sokka glimpsed only a moment of the horror etched on their faces before tearing himself forward. The sea prunes saw the light outside for a second time that day as he retched into the snow. As he wiped his mouth, resting his forehead against the cool ice, he found that he wasn't sure how to face his baby sister or himself. She had just killed these men and here he was. The older brother, chief in lieu of his father and last warrior of his tribe, retching in the snow.

He heard the ice crack beneath the soles of Katara's elephant-seal skin boots as she shifted and knelt near him, consoling sounds falling off her tongue. Head between his knees he pushed himself to stop the horror slithering in his belly and focus on a new plan. Falling back onto logic, make a new plan, he could do that. Speaking of which… "You weren't supposed to do that 'Tara. How did you do that?" he questioned, whispering to the snow versus facing her.

"I'm not sure how. I just…I was so angry and my bending. It just responded. I…" She trailed off, her voice sounding thick as if she were pushing back her own grief. Sokka waited, hoping she'd continue if he gave her enough time. The last time she had lost control of her bending like that, it hadn't been any good. Their father, the Chief, had left many winters ago. After the attack that took their mother, the men had put the village back together. Rebuilding what they could and making sure the Tribe could survive without the things they couldn't. Afterwards, in the Spring, any warrior able bodied and capable and even those who weren't left to join the resistance in the Earth Kingdom. The memory was still a bitter trigger for the last Water Tribe boy, but he carried the responsibility of his tribe now. Being left behind to care for the Southern tribe remains no longer stung like a whale-rat bite.

Katara took it harder, though. She was younger and when she grew depressed that summer her bending had wrecked havoc on the ice of their glacier lands. What she had lacked in training, Sokka knew she made up for it in raw power. He knew she could be dangerous when her bending went unchecked but until now, he had never seen her harm anyone. He swallowed again at the thought of the invaders laying just yards from him as he pushed down his fears. As the wind howled and the cold bit into him he waited for her to come back around and eventually she did. He pulled himself upwards, flopping back to watch the clear arctic sky as she folded her hands and began to speak in a whisper that chilled him deeper than the ice ever could.

"Those men, they're the same ones who were here last time Sokka. That was the Captain, the leader of the men of the flaming bird ships." She paused, taking a deep breath. He turned his head to watch her, catching twin tears racing the curve of her check as she blinked. She swallowed thickly and when she spoke again, her voice was a study of grief. "That, _Monster_ killed mom. I watched him do it and I was too young to do _anything_ about it. I just let it happen!" Her anger grew with every word until she was shrieking her self-judgment to the snowy clearing around them. She bent over suddenly, gripping the permafrost and loose snow under her gloved hands, crying out in great gasping breaths and shuddering sobs. For once, the water tribe boy found himself to be silent. As he watched his sister's malevolent facade fracture; he was beside himself for a different reason than his sister's grief.

His mother, her death was so many winters ago now. Some days he struggled just to remember her voice, other days he couldn't quite get her face right anymore. It wasn't as if she had been replaced, it was more like the gaping hole that her death left being had been bridged. That aching hole was still there, but it was subdued by the other women of his tribe; his family and people and his sister who had stood so strong after that raid, always pushing to make life smoother in their mother's absence. He smothered the bitter guilt at this revelation and sat forward. Taking her sobbing form against her own, he cradled her against him for the first time in years.

"It's okay 'Tara, he's gone now. He can't hurt anyone else." He soothed, rubbing gloved hands against her parka-clad back, rocking her in gentle motions. As she calmed, he watched the empty sky and sinking sun as it crawled towards the land line. After a final sniff, the blue-eyed girl pulled herself together, scratching watery eyes and straightening her long, dark braid. She rolled out next to Sokka, uncrumpling from the weight of her memories like a replenished flower and gazing at the same seemingly infinite sky as her brother. Her brother was silent for a time, so they laid. Eventually, she turned to face him and traced his familiar features. They had the same snubbed nose and wide eyes, same mocha skin and deeply coloured hair; yet his lips thinned where her's grew full, and his eyes lightened like the clouds as her's grew dark like ocean waters. His was a face she'd known her entire life and as she watched him think, she settled further. Centring herself. Finally, he spoke, firm with conviction "We have to get the tribe out of here. It's not safe anymore. Someone's going to come looking when the flaming bird ship doesn't return."

Fear began to cloud Katara's features, "How long do you think we have?" She asked.

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Whalerus-Thank you again for your review! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Let me know your thoughts on this one too! :D

 **The next prompt is Dark. Let me know your thoughts! Good, bad? Questions, Guesses? Drop them in a review!**


	4. Arc one, Dark

**A/N: Hey Everyone! So here is the continuation of the 100-word challenge, this prompt being Dark~ I hope everyone had a happy New Years! I** **'m updating every day that I have off from work (like today)-but it's a full-time job so right now it'll be once or twice a week XD I'm pushing for another chapter to be done today or Saturday...**

 **On that note, I** **'m pretty excited about this story. A bunch of chapters were done last week and I'm just trying to not overwhelm you guys with updates so I can keep it pretty steady! :D The song for this chapter was Kill the Lights by The Birthday Massacre!**

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Mid-afternoon found the tribal siblings attempting to free the rest of the tribe from where they had been hidden. "I told you this was a bad idea!" Came a shrill voice from behind a small grove of arctic plants. Katara was just a blue speck nursing a headache from overexerting herself earlier, perched upon a craggy rock surrounded by barely there bushes.

The shrubbery was dark with coarse sparse leaves, fitting of the bizarre inlet the pair had discovered on one of their childhood adventures years ago. Along one side was a low laying edge which dropped off into a steep rocky cliff speckled with moss and gleaming ice. The ground towards that edge was made of loose stone and soft ice, tiny sprigs of green patched through out the rocky chunks in a web of veiny, near transparent roots. If you stood near the edge and looked outward, nearly the whole landscape would be dotted out before you. The steep coastline, with its harsh icy white edges and the deep blue of the ocean, clashed with the violent living greens that played closer in to the continent where the everlasting trees grew thick and tall in large swaths that split the glacier lands.

If you turned to look inward, though, you would spy something of equal beauty to the vast landscapes below. A massive sheet of rock and ice rocketed into the sky inside of the clearing. The base was made of jagged rocks and puckered craters in riotous shades of grey and orange stone blended through with clumps of stubborn plants and grasses. As the mountain grew towards the sky, the greenery was overtaken by sheets of vertical ice and staggering drips of frozen water. In one of the many pocketed holes at the base of this great mass of land, sat a boulder of equal proportions, tucked into a crevice on the mountain face.

This is where you would find Sokka, dangling off of a heavy weighted stick that he had crammed between the fat, misshapen boulder and the hole it had sunk into. He face had the pinked tinge of exertion as he bickered back breathlessly "Well, If you would help me! Maybe I could move it!" He accused while throwing his weight against his makeshift pry bar, it snapped though and his force sent him hurtling into the boulder's face. His exclamation of pain was accompanied by Katara's surprised giggle as he reached up to soothe his aching nose, water dripping onto his forehead as he did.

"What do you want me to do? I bend water, not rocks." She snarked back, her voice carrying from her perch in the clearing where she had buried her head in her arms on her lap. The older boy stared at her hunched form for a moment, arms hanging limply at his side. He stood just under the overhang of the blocked off cave mouth, looking around the clearing for a way to shift the boulder. Some how rolling it down the sloping cave mouth had been much easier than pushing it back out…He sighed as he wiped his forehead again, there was a persistent drop of water coming from somewhere above him and his annoyance warred with his frustration before he had an idea.

"Katara! That's it! We can use your bending, you're a genius." He shouted, jumping forward as she glared up at him. "How do you want me to move a giant rock, with my bending…?" She let the question drag out, her voice coloured in shards of disbelief and weariness.

"Look above us! All that water is just frozen there! If you can melt it with your bending, you can make a river under the boulder to push it out of the cave!" His blue eyes wide with excitement, he pointed above himself at the frozen peaks of the mountain. Understanding cleared the girl's tired scowl as she stood and came closer to the cave mouth. "What if I loose focus and it goes into the cave, though?" She questioned, eyes hooded with insecurity. Though she was glad to have the ability to help her tribe, they were partially her responsibility after all; she'd never go out of her way to cause them harm and right now she was tired and that harm could come from her.

Sokka was quiet for a moment before answering in a subdued tone, "Just..try to channel it into the crack between the boulder and the cave-then pull in forward in a stream. That way as you're pulling the water out, it'll drag the boulder with it, _away_ from the opening. It's our only option."

"Easier said than done." The blue eyed girl responded, though she squared her shoulders and moved into a familiar stance, despite her pressing headache.

Feet spread, knees bent and arms raised toward the frozen water above her, she closed her eyes and focused. Honing in on the trapped push and pull of the water clinging to the mountain peak she began shifting it, giving it freedom, twirling her wrists in a rough dance as she literally _twisted_ the ice back into a liquid form. She repeated her twisting motions as she moved to different parts of the frosted peaks, collecting water and swinging it through the air in a glittering current; it shimmered in a floating circle above her, twinkling in the sunlight.

Sokka watched on, amazed and a little bit jealous at his sister's ability, as she created a floating river in the air around them; pulling it into a constant stream of motion. She jerked harshly, slamming her wrists down and the water hanging above their heads stopped, slimming out from it's ropy coil into a thick blanket of water that pulsated with the restricted currents. She flexed again, moving her arms down in a sloping motion as the water mirrored her, creating a narrow wedge that flared outward at the back of the hovering collection. Groaning with the strain of keeping the mass of water airborne, she closed her eyes again as she began feeding it into the remaining narrow slice that served as the cave opening. Her forehead crinkled as she grimaced, trying to keep her composure. She could _feel_ the water trying to break free of it's confines, fighting against her. Water was an element that travelled and flowed; restricting it into harsh shapes was unnatural and after this morning, between practice and then the sudden defense against the invaders, the young woman could feel her strength fading along with her control over her element.

Her headache flared again as panic raced through her. On the other side of the boulder, inside the cave, she could feel her control slipping and the water began to lose form. Instead of keeping with the tight formation Sokka wanted, Katara made a split second decision and gave into her element. Releasing the wedge form, she let the element exist in it's natural river. The river began to expand and pool inside of the cave, feeding off the coursing river and it's power, the blue-eyed girl gave a final push. Throwing up a frozen wall to protect her people inside the cave, she drove the rest of the floating river into the cave; encouraging it to crash and rebound against her protective barrier. The river, trapped inside the cave began to swirl, matching Katara's swirling form. Finally, she arched a single arm into the air, breathing heavily and with the last of her strength; she pulled herself into a tight ball, dropping to her knees. Barely hearing Sokka's distant cry of alarm in the background as she collapsed, she released her watery vortex in a storm of force and it rewarded her. Crashing out of the cave with unnatural ferocity, the boulder blew from the hidden opening in a crash of frothing water and dangerous currents. Katara watched as the water swung menacingly high in the air around her, cracking against the mountain and splitting through the clearing before gushing off the mountain edge. She marvelled at it's power absently as she felt the edges around her vision begin to go dark. A final thought drifted to Sokka, hoping he could get the tribe to safety now that they were free, as she felt the water begin to sweep her into it's arms and she drifted away.

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 **We have new reviewers today! Thank you so much, literally when I was checking out my stats I was so excited to read your reviews and hear your feedback. I read them and just wanted to finish the next chapter super quick so I could post again for you guys. 3 Happy readers and reviews give my writing life :3 Thank you for all the faves and alerts as well! :D**

 **QueenBbrony- I** **'m planning on taking a more serious voice for this one.**

 **DeannaBear-Thank you :3**

 **ML8991-I hope the characterization in this one suits you, our plot should start picking up soon!**

 **Whalerus- Sokka is older and has kinda moved on but not really, I just wanted to show him dealing with it better. Katara has more open feelings and reacts quicker to things. As I** **'ve said, I'm determined to use these themes in unorthodox ways :D**

 **Stickiebelle- Thank you :3 Hope this one meets your standards**

 **The next prompt is Seeking Solace.**

 **Let me know your thoughts! Good, bad? Questions, Guesses? Drop them in a review, I love hearing from you guys and I** **'ll do my best to respond!**


	5. Arc One, Seeking Solace

**A/N: Hey Everyone! So here is the continuation of the 100 word challenge, this prompt being Seeking Solace~ I** **'m updating every day that I have off from work-but it's a full-time job so right now it'll be once or twice a week XD Unfortunately, I've been fighting illness while trying to get this out for you guys. Either way, I hope you guys like it!**

 **To answer the question from ML8991 last chapter,** **'Arc' could be the same as 'season'. I meant it more in the sense that there will be 5 arcs in this story. Each Arc will have 20 chapters/prompts to it and a centralized theme/plot that the prompts work towards. The 5 Arcs make a whole story, though, so in a way, it's similar to a season. I hope that makes sense!**

 **The Song for this chapter was Lips like morphine by Kill Hannah**

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Katara awoke some time later, gasping for breath and shuddering into consciousness. Glacier water dribbled from her lips, bubbling from the depths of her lungs as she sputtered to life on a soft bed. The arctic furs tickled her nose as she stretched, coaxing her frozen muscles to unclench themselves. Where she was buzzed around her mind like a mosquito-hawk, circling through her other thoughts and praying on her uncertainty. The last thing she remembered was using the pent up water in the cave as a geyser, making the pressure blow the boulder clear from the mountain face. Then….things get a little fuzzy, she remembered the water rushing towards her and being cold. So _very, very_ cold, as the water swallowed her; then everything just goes away. Like the recorder in her mind just stopped working and refused to play, there was nothing. What had happened?

She struggled to sit up, untangling herself from the mound of arctic furs that had been layered upon her, blue and white blended together around sleeping pallet; she was still clearly near home. As if the frigid bite to the air couldn't tell her that much. She peered across the room she was in, looking for any hints of where she was. Better yet, where was Sokka?

There were other pallets like her own, laid in a row against a roughly hewn wall, though, they were empty. In fact, the whole room was deserted, save for a fire that flickered with life behind a gated pit at the farthest corner of the long space. The room seemed to be some kind of healer's area with long open ended pipes that channeled water along the walls near the sleeping pallets. Feeling the call of the water sing inside of her, the blue-eyed woman struggled from her own resting area. She set off towards the pelt covered archway at the end of the room, gathering water from the pipes to circle around her waist.

The archway greeted her with a choice: left or right down a twisting hallway? It reached upwards, higher than she'd ever seen from inside before and the whole hallway was made of scraped, grey stones. Large spaces between the rocks worked as windows, letting in sunlight and a startling view of _inside_ the Ever-Tree forest. Thick brown trunks sprung from the hard soil, supporting large boughs of deep green Ever-Tree needles; the entire forest was so thickly woven with life that it cast a constant shadow across the hall she stood in. Katara sucked in a sudden breath as she realized, she'd never been into this forest before. It was a long travel from her village, one that had never been allowed to her, though ages ago when the tribe was younger coming here had been a rite of passage like any other for her tribes-people. The journey was just as difficult and dangerous as Sokka had made it seem to the invaders and could take several days if one knew what perils could lurk in the tundra, it could takes weeks if you weren't prepared at all. How had she gotten out here?

Brow furrowed, she tore herself away from the Ever-Tree forest and chose left at the break in the twisting hallway, hopefully, she could find _someone_ to explain what had happened. She walked, twisting along with the snaking hall. She travelled the rough stone corridors, peaking out at the open air windows and into the forest beyond.

Eventually, she wandered through the halls into a great, chasm of a room. Along one side an entire wall was missing, instead, the space gapped open above the forest. Almost as if the designers were inviting the Ever-Tree forest to grow tall enough to come into the room. Strong stone pillars soared into the air to hold a ceiling so tall that she had a hard time making out the beautiful images embossed on to it. Feeling her breath catch in her throat, the blue-eyed young woman raced to the edge of the room, peering out into the misted trunks.

"I wouldn't stand so close to the edge if I were you." Called a wizened voice from behind her. Twisting as quickly as she could, Katara dropped into a defensive stance, her glittering water poised like a thin shield between her and the newcomer. "Oh, you've got spirit I see!" He called again, and that's when she spotted him. Shuffling into the great space from a darkened archway was a withered man, stooped with age he moved gnarled and knobby, hunched upon an engraved bone white cane. She hesitated, ripping down her shield, but keeping the water slithering between them.

"It's a long drop, not much your pretty water can do to stop your fall either" He spoke again, his voice brittle in the open space. Glancing behind her, she noticed that the floor did give way and drop off, yawning into the forest below. She blinked before turning back and finding her voice "Who are you? Where's my tribe? My Brother?" The questions jumped from her mouth in a tumble of words and she felt the anxiety she had been trying to bury bubble back to the surface of her skin.

"Monk Gwian, though if your tribe bothered to visit more often, you would know that. I am one of the elder monks in our great Spirit Temple and your tribe is safe, for now." He intoned broad white eyebrow raised in emphasis as if she should already know these things. She could feel her ignorance curling in her stomach as more questions raced through her mind, pushing warmth into her face as this old man stared her down.

"How are we here?" she finally asked, thinking it to be a fair question "How? That's a long story, just know that your tribe was seeking solace and we have provided it, for our southern brothers and sisters. Come now, it's just about lunchtime. You must have more questions and I'm afraid these old knees can't stand for as long as they used to." He chided gently, his voice still crinkling like old parchment in the room and he turned his bent spine to her and shuffled away. She was caught between the thoughts of watching his bright orange robes disappear in the dim hall and the surprise that he simply expected her to follow. He began to turn down the twisting hallway though and she began to race after him. Questions burning through her mind as quickly as her legs pushed through the air.

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 **Thank you again to everyone who took the time to review! I was so excited to read your reviews and hear your feedback. I read them and just wanted to finish the next chapter super quick so I could post again for you guys. 3 Happy readers and reviews give my writing life :3 Thank you for all the faves and alerts as well! :D**

 **Let me know your thoughts! Good, bad? Questions, Guesses? Suggestions? Drop them in a review, I love hearing from you guys and I** **'ll do my best to respond!**

 **The next prompt is Breakaway**


	6. Arc one, Breakaway

**Hello! Okay, well…I've started breathing life back into this. I'm sorry, again, for dropping off the face of the Earth while life ran me over. The prompt on this one was Break away. Just to refresh, this is a spin on the 100 word prompt challenge, it's one plot line instead of just drabbles! The format is probably different than before, but I'm posting this on the go….Hope you like!**

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Breakaway, Chapter 6

Katara followed after Monk Gwian, surprised at how quickly the wizened man traveled despite his age and complaints. The pair wound themselves through the twisting halls and the water bender was grateful to have stumbled across the monk. Had she been left on her own to travel the twisting stone halls, she felt she would have never found her way out again. Finally, the pair paused in front of two broad doors. They were stained a deep red and Katara tried to hide a shudder as the colour only reminded her of the men who had invaded her village.

The blue-eyed girl dismayed over how they would possibly move the overly large doors and for a moment questioned why anyone would want such heavy looking things. Monk Gwian, for all his complaints dropped into a bending crouch before she could question how they would move past the doors. He strained in the strange position, twisting down and away from the doors, before, bursting forward with a staggering gust of air.

She staggered under the force, watching as the doors bust open before them; strangely though, the great doors barely made a sound as they flung open. The young woman regarded the crouched man differently in the wake of his bending. He shuffled forward into the room though, and she followed.

The room was cavernous on the inside, reaching higher than she had seen before, certainly higher than any tree or room. As she watched the ceiling, wondering at the domed height, she realized with a start the roof was missing in the center. The night sky twinkled at her, teasingly, through the opening. The stars shined like ice chips in a dark fur and as she watched a great burst of blue and green lights raced through the sky. The spirit lights of the Southern Tribe playfully ran across her vision and she had to drag herself away to view the rest of the circular room. Noting the cooking hearth embedded along one long stone wall. Dotted around the room were heavy set tables, enough seating to fit more people than she'd probably ever seen in her life.

Air monks and acolytes buzzed around the room, children raced through the tables. their bright orange robes, bundled tightly, to ward off the chill in the air. Some nodded at Monk Gwian; others, curiosity written on their faces, watched her instead. Above the chatter and children, Katara found what she had been scanning the room for. Nestled in the farthest corner from the door was a single, low table filled with a sea of blue and white clad women and children. Sokka sat nestled between their gran-gran and some of the other women of the tribe.

Forgetting the monk, she had been following, Katara raced across the room. A drop of blue in a field of orange.

"Sokka!" she cried, pushing her way towards the unaware boy as he groused to the gathered women over the continued lack of 'meaty' options during dinner.

The older boy looked up, dropping the stoneware spoon into his bowl.

"Katara, you're awake!" Standing from the table, his feet tangled with the bench, but he grasped her in a hug so tight she could feel his heartbeat through her parka.

She smelled of healing herbs and hearth smoke, unlike herself, but at least she was there. When he had pulled her from the water, she hadn't been breathing, her lips tinged blue where death sat waiting for her.

"Don't crowd your sister, she should rest." Admonished their gran-gran as she approached.

Katara blinked back the wetness in her eyes as her gran-gran smiled, the woman was as steady as the tide, and Katara was glad to see her again.

Reaching for her grandmother with questions burning her tongue, she began to rain fire upon her family.

"What happened? Where are we and how did we get here? Why is the whole tribe here, why didn't you go back to the village?" She began, an endless parade of questions to people she knew would listen.

Gran-gran tutted though, gesturing for Katara to have a seat. Sokka came around to her side with a fresh bowl of-

"Is that sea-prune stew? That's my favorite!" The bender squealed. As she ate, they spoke. Entwining a tale that passed while she slept.

"That was a tricky piece of bending you used to free us from that cave." Gran-gran began, "very clever."

Katara blushed, watching her prunes float in the broth of her bowl.

Sokka snorted, "Yeah it looked great until you passed out! I literally almost went over the cliff trying to rescue you!" He groused, glaring into his own bowl at the memory.

Katara felt guilt roll through her stomach before pushing it down with anger. Though he sounded mad, she knew he was trying to cover up that he had been scarred. She tried to let her own anger go.

"He would have been over that cliff before we could stop him though, if that water had been quicker. "Gran-gran amended.

Katara nodded, eyes on her mittens as they twisted in her lap. She noticed, they needed a wash again, the familiar blue fur was streaked with grime colouring it a dull grey in places.

"Thank you, Sokka. I don't know what happened. I had control. It was fine." She trailed off, remembering the fatigue she ignored and the headache she hid.

"You over extended yourself, from what I've heard you did some very advanced bending for someone with no training." Monk Gwian had come up behind them, hands folded he bowed, stooping lower than his usual crumpled looking form. "Kana, it is good to see you again." he spoke slowly, twitching his lips in what passed for a smile before straightening.

"Gwian, the temple has looked better. I hope you've been well." She returned, a smile of her own twisting her lips.

Sokka looked between the two, a frown working across his face. "yeah…why don't we move somewhere the kids can't hear us." He offered, turning to face Monk Gwian fully.

The stooped man nodded and turned as the three water-tribesmen rose, food forgotten on the table behind them.

They spoke as the wizened Monk lead them away from the domed room and the crackling hearth, wandering the twisting tunnels once more.

"After we pulled you from the water, Gran-gran and I decided it wasn't safe to go back to the village. Whoever sent those soldiers is going to be waiting for a report, and I don't want anyone there when they send more soldiers to figure out what happened." Sokka spoke quietly, his voice echoed in the hall around them repeating even after he finished.

"So how did we get here? Where is here?" She asked, Sokka grimaced in response.

"You, little bender, are in the Southern Spirit Temple. The only temple for the South Pole." Monk Gwian responded, voice cracking between words.

He stopped shuffling and they looked at another pair of great doors before them. These we inlaid with glistening crystals. Some were hollowed out, others big fat baubles, but all of them were inlaid in a twisting, twirling pattern that threw light in dazzling patterns across the hall. Katara waited for a blast of air, like the last time, but this time Monk Gwian merely pushed them open.

Behind the doors was another circular room, the walls had been worn completely smooth, unlike the rough stone patterns she had seen so far. One full wall was missing, though unlike the hallway that had opened up to the middle of the ever-trees. This room was on the ground, dirt and snow fought for space at the edge of the room, letting the Ever-tree forest crawl in. The ceiling was gone, letting the stars and lights far, far above twinkle into the room.

Crystals shimmered from every space she looked. Dangling in the air, glittering across the floor, clustered along the walls; they all shimmered. The space was almost bare though. A few simple furs dotted the floors around a wide, shallow pool of water. A reflecting pool, rimmed in smooth crystals and though she could see straight to the empty, watery bottom the whole pool glowed with soft light.

Gran-gran answered her question this time.

"I lead the tribe here. Once many, many years ago when I was still young, this was my home. The Spirit Temple has always been a place of refuge and safety. The tribe used to make pilgrimages here and they were a strong people with cities to rival the North and people filled with kindnesses." She spoke as she settled at the pool's edge, the light splashing across her features and Katara tried not to shiver as her mind whispered that Gran-gran herself looked like a spirit.

They all settled around the glowing pool, Katara next to Gran-gran and Monk Gwian to the other side. Sokka gathered more furs before taking his own spot.

"This temple has been here a very long time, as homage to the Spirits and the monks here service the spirits as they walk our Earth." She paused, watching the faces of her grandchildren.

"Whenever there is a gathering of people, of any nation, spirits will come as well. They are attracted to the energy, to our living world. The more people, the more spirits and the more temples there will have to be, to house the spirits that walk with us." She glanced at Monk Gwian before looking back towards the pool.

"But, Gran-gran, why have we never been here before. Why did the tribe stop coming?" Sokka asked, breaking the quiet of the room. Kana and Gwian shared another long look, before she answered.

"That is the story of another time, a history long forgotten. Before, when the temple and tribe were close, your ancestors would visit us often. Solstice, Equinox, festivities they all took place with in these walls; the spirits would come down, your tribe would journey and we would all celebrate as one. The spirits would come and dance in the sky, leaving trails of blue and green and violets you've never seen before, behind them. It was wonderful." Gran-gran spoke wistfully, he eyes seeing not what was before her, but scenes many years old.

Monk Gwian continued in her silence. "There was a grand wedding during the Winter Solstice. Many people came, not just from the Southern Tribe but from other farther away places. The bride was a beautiful temple woman, and the groom was the Southern Chief's son. During the after-festivals, the Bride's younger sister met the Groom's younger brother. He was infatuated. She was not. The tribe visited more than ever that summer, and relations between the temple and tribe strengthened, as a record number of water benders were born the next spring. The brother tried to woo the girl and her naïveté betrayed her as she was already being courted by a respected monk of the temple, but didn't know how to turn away the tribesman. The stilted relationship caused tension between the tribe and temple. The bride and her groom tried to smooth things over between their two homes, but when the Monk proposed marriage to the younger sister; the groom's younger brother challenged him to a duel." Here Monk Gwian paused, collecting himself. The water tribe siblings feared where this tale ended, but to know your future one must know the past and there had to be more to their history than unrequited love.

To Katara's surprise her gran-gran continued the tale. "The battle was bitter. Both were benders so they traveled to the ice dunes, neutral ground between the tribe and temple lands. They fought and much destruction was caused. The girl forced her way through the crowds and tried to quell the fighting. No one knew the ice had been weakened during the fight, when she stepped into the dunes it all collapsed. The chief's son was determined that he could save her using his bending, he went into the jagged crevice that had opened and we never saw them come back out. The chief in his anger and grief, blamed the temple. He cut all ties, stopped the pilgrimages and festivals and broke away from the Spirit World. The remaining brother tried to convince his father that it would damage the tribe, heeding the warnings of his temple wife, but his father wouldn't listen. Our tribe began to wither that year, first sickness struck and then hunger years later. The winters ravaged us, more bitterly cold than the years before. Then the Fire Nation raids began and our water benders were born less and less. The spirits had abandoned us the way we abandoned them."

"What happened to the Monk?" Katara asked quietly.

"He devoted his life to the temple and appeasing the spirits. He attempted to quell their anger over the tribe's abandonment, until they could come back. He never loved another, never married. He and the temple waited for your tribe's return. But they never came back, until now." Monk Gwian's paper thin voice whispered around the room, but when he finished the silence he left behind seemed deafening.

"How could we not know this? Why did no one tell us? This is horrible!" Katara whispered, burring her face in her hands.

"This is our history, dear child, but this is also my life. Which makes it much harder to talk about. Iyanna was my little sister. She was beautiful and sweet; it is with my grief over her death and my failure to guide her that I shielded our history from you. Iyanna followed me when I fled the Northern Tribe. The Spirit Temple took us in, gave us shelter and homes. Iyanna had a good life in the North, but their culture is very different from down here. When a suitor wished to marry a girl in the north, he would gain permission from her father. The father makes all of the arraignments, the girl has no choice. She just couldn't adjust to this life as easily as I did. Her death is my biggest regret." Kana whispered, ancient grief rippling through her voice.

Katara reached forward wrapping her in a hug and offering the woman the same comforts she had taken in her own life. Her heart hung heavy in the face of her grandmother's grief. Sokka watched, glancing between his family and the monk with them. "You're…you're the air bender in the story, aren't you?"

Gwian paused, meeting the blue gazes upon him. "Yes, I owe a great debt to my Iya, and you are her kin, her blood. I will aid you in the next step of your journey, for surely as the Spirits tell me, it doesn't end here. Then, I may find peace of my own." He informed, clasping dry hands in his lap as he waited.

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 **Please let me know what you think! Reviews are the way Fanfiction authors get paid! I'd love to hear what you guys think, or any questions/guesses or feedback on it so far.**


	7. Arc one, Enlightenment

**Hello! Welcome back, here is Chapter 7: 'Enlightenment'. This one is a little shorter, because it's more of a building chapter for 8 which is 'Innocence'. I'm shooting to have the next one out on Wednesday/Thursday**

 **Thank you Inkvein, for the favorite and the lovely review. 3 I was thrilled to see your feedback and I'm glad you're excited for the story. I know it's starting kind of slow, but this story is going to be a little longer so I'm trying to lay the groundwork to support that. No worries though, we're going to start picking up** _ **steam**_ **pretty soon**

 **Enlightenment**

"Hold on. What do you mean journey?" Sokka broke the silence, sullenly questioning the Monk in front of him. "We can't go back to the village because we don't even know what the Fire Nation came for! Where are we supposed to go?" Crossing his arms, the challenge was delivered into a bitter gust of wind from the Ever-tree forest.

Gran-gran watched the mulish expression settling on her grandson's face, and the weight of her years came to rest heavily on her own. "No, my brave warrior, you will have to go much further than our village." She responded, her voice as soothing as an ice-balm on a healing burn.

Monk Gwian leaned forward, his joints creaked and popped with effort but he spoke intently to the displaced warrior-to-be. "Kana and I meditated deeply last night, searching for guidance from the spirits. The future of your tribe is unclear, but men who breathe fire will be coming. You must go North before they arrive. Seek refuge for your people with the council there." As he spoke, he sent ripples of air across the glowing pond with tiny twitches of his gnarled fingers. Katara watched the movements, curiosity written on her features as she marveled the monk's control over his element.

"North, where?" She asked, the same curiosity coloring her tone.

"To the land of my birth. Our Northern sister tribe." Her Gran-gran answered and Katara brightened at the mention of the more advanced tribe. The northern benders were renowned even in the southern pole

"You want us to what? Gran-gran, you can't be serious?" The blue eyed boy burst from across the pond, interrupting Katara's next question. Kana focused on her grandson, so much like her own son Hakoda at that age.

"Gwian and I communed all through the night on this. I am very serious, you must seek out our refuge." She assured him.

He spluttered, gesturing wildly with his hands. "You want me to abandon the tribe, leaving you and Katara behind because some spirit _told you the future_?"

Kana clicked her tongue and Katara realized that her gran-gran _was_ serious, and her irritation over Sokka's reaction was palpable in the shimmering room. Where gran-gran was irritated though, Monk Gwian was offended.

"Futures can't be told, boy, Fate is very different." Monk Gwian snapped at Sokka, and Katara felt the need to defend her brother rise in her throat.

"You are as stubborn to the ways of the spirits as your father. Futures are murky with decisions, like swimming in the depths of the ocean, choices are endless. Fate is a destination, much like the shore, My Warrior. You will land and walk upon the shore, but how you get there is your choice." Kana paused, searching the hard features of the boy in front of her, she knew the stubborn set to his jaw as it was the same as Hakoda's.

"Our future is unclear, but your fate begins in the North. You must go and clear the way for the tribe." She insisted.

Sokka rose, a sudden, storming movement of long limbs. "I can't believe you! You think I can just set off on some adventure to the North based on some hunch from the other-side? I have a duty to our people, here. I can't protect anyone from half way around the world!" As quickly as he stood, he rumbled from the room. Blue furred boots slapping on the stone floors and the swing of the crystal laden doors echoing in his departure.

"The tribe has been away from the ways of their ancestors for too long, Kana. They have no faith left." Monk Gwian murmured.

Katara felt the urge to defend her brother rise again, this time she let it out. "Sokka's just upset. Dad left him to watch over the village and now you guys are telling him he has to leave and while he's gone the Fire Nation could come back and he would never even know."

"Dear child, how I wish your father was still here. I wouldn't ask your brother to leave if he was." Gran-gran's hand twined with Katara's, her skin was warm but lacked the comfort the girl usually felt from her grandmother.

Questions burned on Katara's tongue, turning her gran-gran's comfort into confinement. "Why do you trust what these spirits show you so much?" She asked, voice small as the breeze picked up again. Breathing deeply, she caught the scents of the Ever-Tree forest and the bite of a wind that promised snow.

"Our people consulted the spirits often when I was a child in the North. Marriages, battles, the birth of a child. There was always a Spirit Monk there to bridge the divide between our world and theirs. The energy of our ancestors can guide those who seek it." Gran-gran answered.

"So, why can't I go instead? Sokka can stay here to prepare the tribe and I can go to…to treaty with the Northern Council." She tried to sound confident in her suggestion, but a tremor snuck into her throat at the last moment. She had never left the southern pole and the north was a long way from home.

Gran-gran was already shaking her head. 'The Northern Council won't _see_ you. Yes, You're brave and intelligent and a powerful bender; but you're also young and a woman. They will not listen to you, it has to be Sokka." Her hand tightened on Katara's a fraction of an inch and though the young girl itched to pull her hand away she held on. "Gran-gran, maybe they've changed since you left?" Katara insisted.

Monk Gwian snorted under his breath to the side of them. "It is not likely, Little Bender. You have much to learn of the customs of the world around you."

Katara's expression soured, but she didn't object again. Instead she looked around the room, watching the crystals catch in the breeze and throw rainbows and refracted light around them. Pausing, she took a breath and pulled away, adjusting her hair loopies.

"I'd like to learn more about the spirit meditating you mentioned earlier. I want to try it myself." Katara's guileless smile was a quirked pull of full lips under bottomless sapphire eyes. Kana watched her grand-daughter, tracing the high bones of her cheeks and the wide set of Kya's eyes; thinking of a time before her grand-daughter, when her son courted the woman Katara reminded her of.

"You will have to fast then and we can do it tonight." The elder woman responded, passing over the subject change with thoughts of her ill-fated daughter-in-law flitting around.

"I'll try to get Sokka to come with us." Katara offered and her gran-gran smiled, nodding in agreement.

Monk Gwian rose with a popping of joints, before he reached down to offer his arm to Kana, she took his assistance with practiced ease. Katara watched them, thinking of what they must have been like together during their youths; when their bones didn't creak and the void of guilt and regret hadn't yet carved itself between them.

"I will find you later to prepare you for our Spirit Walk, little bender." Monk Gwian nodded in her direction. "Good luck with your brother." He added.

"Thanks, I'll probably need it." She muttered as they left the twinkling room, smudges of blue and orange in a scene of gray stones and white patterned lights.

 **Please let me know what you think! Reviews are the way Fanfiction authors get paid! I'd love to hear what you guys think, or any questions/guesses. The next word is Innocence! I'm shooting for that one to be out Wednesday or Thursday, I'm pretty excited about it. It's longer and the concept for it is pretty fun (on my end at least lol).**

 **Any thoughts or guesses of what they'll see during the Spirit Walk? Or on next chapter at all? What do you guys think so far?**


	8. Arc one, Innocence

**Hello! Welcome back, here is Chapter 8: 'Innocence'.**

 **I'd like to mention that I have a new beta, ML8991 has been a fabulous reader and in the past, has always had something to say about the story. So, I asked about Beta-ing and ML accepted**

 **Innocence**

The Ever-Tree forest stood proud against the flickering southern lights dancing through the night sky. The small troupe stood just on the edge of the forest, smudges of colour in a monochrome scene of black shadows and white snow. The air was bitterly cold, despite the heavy layers put between bare skin and the frosty air. Wind raced through the trees, pulling at loose strands of hair and thick clothes. Tucking chocolate coloured curls into her fur lined hood, Katara noted it was as if the woods themselves were taking a deep inhale of the night air, sucking them deeper into the trees.

Monk Gwian began to lead them forward, breaking the tree line with a single lantern held forward to slice into the shadows of the forest at night. Gran-gran plodded after him, keeping time with his pace and bundled in thik blue-dyed furs. Her furred boots crunched on the undisturbed snow. The water tribe siblings glanced at each other before following after the silent pair. Katara attempted to ignore the grumblings of her brother, catching the odd, vague murmur of his words over the wind whistling in her ears.

"Can't believe…'Tara…No dinner…" She snorted in silent mirth over his complaints before calling ahead to the elders before them. "How far do we have to walk?"

"When someone chooses to Spirit Walk, they must head towards the center of the Ever-Tree Forest. Spirits like their space when they visit with us, and the walls between our world and theirs are thinner there." Came the soft voice of her Gran-gran.

To her side, Sokka slumped "How did I let you drag me into this Katara?" he grumbled, kicking up the crunched frost on the snow beneath his boots.

Katara turned, a retort hot on her tongue when Monk Gwian called back instead. "I would advise against too much noise. A pack of Polar-Bear-Wolves roams freely in the wood." His voice was quiet, barely a whisper encased in the wind that delivered it back to them. Sokka went rigid next to her, causing his boots to slide over the next patch of icy snow.

"What! But, you made me leave my boomerang back at the temple!" He hollered back, she rolled her eyes over the scene, even as Monk Gwian responded with his parchment voice. "We haven't had an attack in over 30 years."

They trudged farther into the woods, accompanied by the constant wind urging them into the dark trees. She watched Sokka begin to launch into his response but a single howl broke through the night before he could. Several answering howls screamed in return, racing the forest to the side of the troupe. Katara felt the prickle of being watched dance along her spine as the howling circled closer. Blue eyes glanced at the distance creeping up between the dutiful pace of the elders and the lingering trudge of the siblings. Sokka grasped her wrist, his forested mitten causing her sleeves to ride up and she felt the sting of ice on her skin. His long legs pulled her through the slippery ice and snow, urging her closer to the pair ahead of them.

"It's always the noisy ones who make trouble in the woods." She heard her Gran-gran mutter to the monk that lead them. They walked in silence after that, a rhythmic scrape and crunch of boots and snow, the sway of the lantern creaking in the wind and the cries of the pack as they circled the wood. Katara walked for what seemed to be an endless amount of time, and finally Monk Gwian began to slow just before they entered a clearing in the forest.

Just beyond the tree line rested a paved circle, clear of snow but overgrown with clots of dark green plants and branches of the familiar glowing crystals from the vision pool at the Temple. The Ever-trees reached into the low hang of the moody fog above the circle, enclosing the stones with verdant arms and obscuring the twinkle of the stars far above them.

Monk Gwian and Gran-gran were the first into the circle; when Katara stepped into the circle breaking past the last of the tree line, the constant whistling of the wind stopped tugging on her; the air was surprisingly warm and silent, she could taste the moisture hanging suspended around her.

They followed the orange smocked Monk to the center of the circle; as they walked Katara noticed symbols and words had been carved into the stone pavers. Some words were native to the Southern Pole and she easily picked them out, others were worn with time and others still were in a language she didn't recognize. In crossing the pavers, she realized they were headed towards a small circular reflecting pool. It was no more than 3 paces wide and though the water glowed faintly with white light, she couldn't see a bottom just an endless pool of water.

"This looks like the pool back at the Temple…" Sokka was the first to break the heavy silence.

Monk Gwian began to sit, crossing his legs beneath himself. "Indeed, they are both connected to the Spirit World. This is sacred water, pooling directly from a pond in the Spirit World." He replied.

They sat, enclosing the pool on all sides. Katara noted, they were so close to each other they could all grasp hands.

"So why couldn't we just ask the future at the temple, instead of walking over here?" The Tribesman queried, crossing his arms.

Gran-gran sighed across from him. "Spirit Walking won't tell you the future Sokka. It is a traditional way to look for guidance among the spirits for questions. Beginners or those who are untalented at focusing their minds for direct answers, while _walking,_ will see flashes of their fate. Things that will happen no matter what you do. Your future you can control, and the spirits cannot show you that no matter how focused your mind is." Her tone carried the familiar bite of their childhood reprimands and Katara was reminded of times when she and Sokka would get into trouble at the village, only to have to face their Gran-gran afterwards. Moments of innocence during a childhood filled with caring for their desolate village.

Monk Gwian cut in. "All benders can study the ways of the spirits but Air benders are the most attuned to the Spirit World as our element is gentle, we can feel the vibration of the energies in the air. This allows us to trace the energies between worlds. We carry on the traditions and ways of the spirits, even as the rest of the world moves forward. That is why the Spirit Temples exist, they are homes for the spirits in the mortal world." His intonement came in his same parchment thin voice, but Katara was enraptured by his words all the same.

Gran-gran turned to face her, a proud smile stretching her thin lips. "You gain your bending from the spirits themselves, it is a blessing. Tui is the spirit of the moon and La is the spirit of the ocean; they are rare beings, bonded together in both the spirit and the physical world. Our sister tribe houses their physical forms in their own Spirit Temple. Without the temples to provide nourishment from the physical realm to the spirits and access from the spirits to us, the two worlds may separate completely."

"But, then what happens to my bending?" Katara asked, the thought of losing her bending, or never feeling her element again, terrified her.

"No one is sure, maybe your bending would disappear? Maybe you would develop the bending sickness that plague our eldest ancestors? We know nothing good would happen. The temples provide a portal, much like this one here, to access both sides and create balance for each element." Monk Gwian responded, and Katara watched the lines of his broad, weathered face as he spoke. He turned to face Sokka then.

"Young warrior, every pool serves a different purpose. The one at the temple, we typically use for severe healings. That is why it is wide and shallow. The water is blessed and can cure most physical ailments as well as plagues of the mind or soul. This pool though, we use to secure communication with the spirits."

Furrowed blue eyes met the slightly clouded grey stare of Monk Gwian before Sokka snorted and looked away. "Okay. Okay. I'll admit it, you got me. I still don't believe in all this, but I'll give it a try."

He resolutely stared at the glowing water before them, ignoring the eyes he felt watching and Katara smiled as she felt his fingers twine through hers.

She met the stares of the elders, "So how do we start?"

 **Please let me know what you think! Reviews are the way Fanfiction authors get paid! I'd love to hear any questions/guesses. The next word is Driven and I have lots of plans for their Spirit Walk because of it :3**


	9. Arc one, Driven

**Chapter 9, Driven. Whoo, I struggled getting this one out on time. Between Thanksgiving and final papers I had almost no time to write, it was crazy!**

 **Driven**

"Spirit walking begins with meditation. You must clear your mind." Monk Gwian spoke softly, his words floating on the breeze around them. "You will do as I do, legs crossed, palms open, and breathe slow but deep to calm your bodies."

Surprisingly, Sokka drew into the position quickly, closing his eyes as did Gran-gran. It was Katara who paused before settling her hands palms open. Her wide blue eyes studied those around her, flitting between faces and features. Monk Gwian's eyes met hers and she watched him. "You must close your eyes for this to work, child." He spoke softly.

She watched him for a moment more, before her eyes slid closed. With her vision dark, it was too easy to feel the way her hair danced in the breeze, tickling her skin or the way the water hummed to her, singing lowly in her veins. Katara found that being able to connect to this spirit water, the same way she connected to the ocean or ice of her homeland, comforted her. It called softly to her in the familiar lilting tones that she had come to expect from her element.

"You must focus on clearing your minds, let go of your worldly worries, allow your thoughts to enter your mind and pass through just as quickly. As you clear your thoughts, focus on your breath. I will guide you in the cross-over to the spirit realm, you will leave your physical bodies here for only your spirit make walk amongst the spirit world." Monk Gwian's voice intoned, as parchment thin as before. Questions furrowed across Katara's brow, passing through her mind, but she dutifully cleared them. How does one's Spirit just leave their body?

"I will be the guardian of your passage, children of the water, my Spirit will not join yours on the other side as I must stay here to keep the portal open. You must listen closely to these instructions for once you leave our mortal realm, I may not assist you." Though the Monk remained calm, Katara couldn't stop her outburst.

"What!? How can you just send us in there by ourselves?" She cried, opening her eyes. The sun filtered down, trailing dimly in the foggy sky, but still too bright after the darkness of her eyelids. Gran-gran peeked an eye open to glance at her.

"My bones are too old to go twice in as many days, child. Now hush and he will explain." Though her tone was calm, it was as hard as the stone they sat upon. Gran-gran closed both eyes once more, and Katara glanced at Monk Gwian's quiet face before following suit. He had paused, allowing her to collect herself and slow her breathing once more. After a beat, the Monk continued.

"Your spirits will leave our world using this pond to travel the spirit bridge to the other side. You will meet the Spirit Guardian there. You must pay your respects to the guardian or she will not allow you to pass fully into their world. Spirits are prideful and powerful, you must be kind and courteous. Once she has greeted you, ask for guidance from the spirits she protects. If she allows you to cross over the bridge, you have won their guidance. An experienced walker may pass over the bridge with a specific question they need guidance for in their mind. This will allow their journey through the spirit realm to show them the answers they may seek. Those who are inexperienced may simply cross the bridge with the hope of guidance. The spirits will show you pieces of your fate. Things you cannot change. They will never give you the whole image, but it may ease you on the journey you must walk through our mortal world. This is what you are looking for." Monk Gwian paused, and Katara felt a flutter in her belly. Surely, he couldn't be done explaining? There was still so much she didn't know, so many questions dancing in her mind! She felt her next breath hitch and tried to steady her breathing once more.

"When you have finished walking, or you have seen all you can, you must thank the guardian before requesting to return to your mortal body. She will allow you to cross over the bridge once more and you will sense my being. As I said, I cannot cross over with you because I must stay here to be the portal for your return. You will follow my call, through the portal, so I may guide you back to your mortal bodies." When the wizened monk stopped speaking this time, Katara knew he was finished. An air of finality rang through his words as they bounced around in her mind.

Already she could count all the ways this could possibly go wrong. Surely, Gran-gran wouldn't let her do this though if she thought they were at risk through, right? Anxiety clashed with the excitement rolling in her belly as she fought to keep her pulse even under the Monk's scrutiny. She itched to peak at Sokka next to her, imagining that he struggled to stay still as much as she did but the chocolate-haired girl crushed the impulse to peak under her lashes. Focusing on her breath, she counted them out.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Find the push and pull of your chi, she thought. The blue eyed girl focused on her chi, tracing the lines of her energy through her own body. Tiny sparks of chi jumped at her under her impatience as she sought the push and pull of the water within.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

These stones were getting awfully uncomfortable, she thought, sitting straighter to stretch the kink growing in her back. The Monks should have cushions or something around, knowing people would be coming to meditate here. She shoved the thoughts away, pulling back the tides of her inner energy.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Monk Gwian began chanting under his breath, his voice barely ticking the edge of her hearing thought the rest of the stone clearing was silent. Even the gentle breeze had blown away. Katara strained to hear his words, to make out the chant he rumbled to himself, but the harder she focused on it the farther the words seemed to drift from her. She shifted again, the stones numbing her toes beneath her.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Then something shifted around her and the faint smell of herbs drifted in on a crisp wind. Breathe out. The smell of herbs smothered her thoughts, blanketing her mind along with the gentle roll of Monk Gwian's chant.

Breathe in. The wind tightened around her buzzing through her mind, blocking Monk Gwian's words entirely. She shifted again, surprised when instead of the stones that numbed her toes she found the give of soft grass brushing against her. Breathe out. She could feel that something around her again, almost like a presence that had slipped between her thoughts without her notice. Breathe in…

"…Tara." A faint voice whispered, blowing through her mind.

"Katara." The voice called again, more insistently than before. Something warm grasped her shoulder, nudging her into opening her eyes. A filter of watery light gleamed at her from the foggy sky, stinging her sensitive eyes. Glancing over she traced the warm hand on her shoulder to her brother's arm. Sokka's face swam into her vision, a crease of concern showing between his eyes. …Breathe out.

"There you are, I was wondering if you'd ever wake up." He murmured, a slow smile creeping onto his face. "Look it worked, we're here." She followed his hands as he gestured around the clearing, trying to shake the fog that had settled over her thoughts like a thick fold of fresh snow.

The clearing was a mirror image of the one at the Spirit Temple, but this one was so much greener. Everywhere she looked flowers, bushes and trees she had never seen before had sprouted into existence. The song of a bird trilled, hidden by the leaves of the forest around them. Even the air seemed lusher, full of the smells that sang of the earth when she breathed. Everywhere she looked the world let off a small glow, as if the sun shone from inside each tree and bird, glimmering with life.

Slowly a smile stole over her lips, as she took her brother's hand to stand. "Sokka…this is amazing." She whispered. She watched as his eyes flit over their surroundings as he nodded before meeting her gaze. "Come on, the bridge is over there. I found it while I waited for you."

Pulling her hand, he lead her towards a break in the overgrown clearing. A small path twisted through the dense trees, clumped with the perfumes of tall flowers and the rustle of tiny creatures. The pair walked silently, smudges of blue and white amongst a sea of green. The forest scuttled with life around them swaying with movement, but the creatures were silent. The air was heavy with the silence, as if the forest was restrained from singing with its own natural life. "It's creepy quiet here." Sokka nudged Katara as he whispered. She rolled her eyes as they continued along the path, but she inwardly agreed with him.

They turned, following the overgrown path and met a break in the thick forest. Between the trees lay a meadow and a river.

"Sokka, it's beautiful here…" Katara whispered.

The great river winked at them just through the shadow cast by the trees. Spanning over the river was a bridge grown out of the earth. The trunks of heavy umber trees twisted around each other acting as supports for the bridge, arching in half-moons over the rushing water. Vines and branches wrapped in an embrace twined themselves between the massive trunks, a network of whisper close branches and leaves pulling themselves together. The leaves of the bridge danced in the wind, flashing shades of green.

Katara was mesmerized by the water, the whisper of the waves calling to her, singing deeply in her bones in a way she had never felt before. The river beckoned her to lay down on the river bank and immerse herself in the gentle lap of its currents. To bathe amongst the bubbles of its waves and chase the fish that shimmered along the bottom of the banks. The bender found herself craving the touch of the rushing water, craving the spray of the tides on her mocha skin. There was a sense of life and power lurking under the currents that she had yet to discover in the ice of South Pole and she itched to touch it all.

She began to walk forward, called by the rush of the currents. "Katara, I don't think you should go out there. We need to find the Guardian." Sokka's vague voice called after her, warnings tickled the corner of her mind but the rush of the water swept them away from her mind before they registered.

Sokka reached forward, grasping for the furred trim of his sister's tunic, but she pulled ahead out of his reach. "Tara!" He called again, but no answer fell from her lips.

"Katara, stop!" He demanded, his voice sharp in the shadows of the forest. Trying to catch up with her quick pace, he pulled again at her gloved fingers but instead of stopping her she only pulled free of the blue dyed glove. It hung limply in Sokka's hand for a heartbeat of time before he rushed forward, the glove clutched in his fist.

"Hey! What is going on! What's your problem?" He cried into the too silent air as she kept walking ahead.

Pushing back on her shoulder, the older sibling was surprised as he struggled to slow the pace of his smaller sister. She was driven to reach the water and Sokka swallowed against the panic bubbling in his throat, unsure how to stop her. Digging his soft boots into the mud as they neared the river bank, he strained to stop her path.

"Tara, wake up. Please, what is happening?" He called again, staring into her vacant blue eyes. Nothing flickered behind her shallow eyes, not life nor consciousness. The water was freezing when he splashed into it, chilling his skin as it leached up his pant legs. He could feel the sweep of the river around his ankles and then his calves as he lost more ground on the river bank still trying to push her back towards land.

The river rushed higher still as he slid deeper into the water. His soft boots lost traction on the riverbed. "Katara!" He screamed, pushing harder against her.

Sokka slid further into the river, the water rushing past his hips and threatening to pull him into the currents. The panic roiling in his throat began to boil over; he was a strong swimmer, but everyone knew you didn't swim in the ocean when the spirits were angry and this water ran faster and faster the farther into the middle he slid. His boots slid from under him, caught in the current and he scrambled to find the riverbed once more.

Glancing at Katara's empty features once more, he moved out of her way. Whatever this weird water bender trance she was in, he couldn't stop her and she wouldn't stop herself. He remembered all the times the water had protected her and prayed it would do the same now as it surely had never protected him before. If he got swept away, he may not come back, but she probably would. That's what he told himself as he struggled out of her path. His blue eyes watched her disappear under the surface of the rushing water. He pulled himself from the fighting currents, sloshing onto the river bank as he caught his breath and watched the bubbles surface from where she went under.

 **This ended up taking a different turn than I planned, but we've made our first trip into the Spirit World! Please tell me what you think! Love it ? Hate it? I 'd love some feedback for you all to know what you think so far…it's so quiet in the reviews…what's a writer to think? *twiddles thumbs***

 **The next prompt should be 'Breathe Again'**


	10. Arc one, Breathe Again

**Chapter 10, Breathe Again. Please enjoy and as always ML is an awesome beta who helps get these chapters out there. Thank you again to ML who kept poking me to see where I was at with this and giving plenty of feedback!**

 **Shout-out to Kutsky** **for joining our adventure and dropping a review! Thank you to all of you lovely readers, you guys tuning in every week help keep this going!**

 **Breathe Again**

The bubbles drifted to the surface of the river until they all swept downstream. The current somehow had slowed under Sokka's panicked gaze, as he searched for any signs of chocolate hair under the lazy, rippled surface.

Nothing surfaced. Sokka blinked once, a slow flutter before panic grew into anger curling in his chest. "This isn't supposed to happen!" He screamed suddenly, a raw strangling of words thrown at the river.

He stood, the stun of his panic soaked mind quickly forgotten in the face of his anger. His boots squelched as he ran back towards the water, his water laden furs swinging heavily with each dripping step. An ugly scream fell from his lips as he charged into the water. Diving down deeply, he pushed into the center of the current as his warrior's wolf tail sunk below the rippling water. He searched under the water, feeling the current pick up the deeper he swam. The weak Spirit realm sun filtered beneath the surface, casting faint shafts of light onto the muddy river bed far below him. Water choked weeds clogged the mucky banks, hiding shimmering stones and lost treasures.

He could see all this and yet could find no sign of Katara. He resurfaced quickly, gasping for air as he swam further downstream. Diving down again his bleary eyes searched the muddy scene once more. He swam quickly during his search, cutting through the currents as fatigue began to nip at him once more.

Still, he found no trace of his sister, not a boot nor glove could be found. She was simply gone. His lungs burned and he was forced to surface again, further downstream the river seemed to have swelled in its banks, growing impossibly wide. Sokka looked around the overgrown forest and spotted the bridge, several paces farther away than he remembered. Splashing in the roughening waters he screamed "This isn't fair! She can't just be gone!" The clearing met his calls with silence.

A stiff wind blew over him, sending shivers across the nape of his neck, where some water was pooling in the hood of his parka. Nothing danced with the wind, even the water was undisturbed as it blew, sending shivers through his spine. Blue eyes narrowed, watching the river gurgle around him. It seemed almost alive, the way it rippled and pulled at him, whispering for him to relax into the drift of the currents. An idea began to slither through his thoughts, poking holes in his anger and filling them with dread.

Features set in a stubborn scowl, he began to drag himself against the current, fighting to reach the shores. Each of his determined strokes only seemed to pull him further from the grass. His soggy blue clothes squelched and clung when he finally met the land. Trudging towards the bridge, he glanced behind himself to search for the trail of water that should be collecting in his wake. He found nothing. The grass behind him was dry, growing lushly and undisturbed and showing no signs of his dripping walk.

Sokka glared at the fresh grass behind him, suspicions clicking into place before he continued his march. "The way that river moves is unnatural. This whole place feels, just, wrong." He muttered under his breath.

Turning back to the clearing, he glared at the open space. "I know you're watching us! " He called out but silence continued to meet his words, he continued walking, eyes icing over in determination.

"Some Guardian you turned out to be! Stealing girls who come looking for guidance!" He goaded once he reached the bridge. The stiff wind returned, buffering against him as he faced the overgrown spirit bridge. Standing at the base of the bridge he began to realize how truly massive it was as if built for giants. Each supporting trunk and branch was thicker than he was wide, the vines that crisscrossed to form the path were wider than his arm. The glossy looking leaves danced in the wind, waving at him, taunting him.

A trickle of worry shivered across his shoulders as he faced the bridge, his scowl deepened as he focused on his anger instead, wearing it like a thick cloak to smother his fears.

He crossed his arms. "This game is over, give her back!" He demanded to the empty bridge.

A sharp laugh barked from behind the dripping tribesman. Sokka whirled around, the expectation of a fearsome spirit on the tip of his thoughts. The spirit stood a pace away, slower to the woods than the river. Though he bore the skin of a seal, a sleek mottled grey, he looked mostly human. Blunted black hair fell loosely, like water, around his shoulders and chest. A single sharp fang poked out from his wry smirk.

"Humans, I find, are always impatient. I hardly think our game has even begun." The spirit spoke, his voice sweeping over Sokka like a brook over stones. He tucked his hands into the folds of the loose breeches slung lowly over narrow hips. Sokka spotted thin, green and grey scaled fins flexing along the sides of his forearms as he moved.

"Are you the Guardian?" Sokka asked, derailed by the confidence oozing from the spirit before him.

A feral smile split the spirit's ashen face, matching fangs glinted against dark lips. "You may call me Loh. Guardian or not, that is my river you've been tromping in all morning."

Sokka's eyes widened briefly before he began marching away from the bridge and towards the languid River Spirit. "So you took Katara!"

Loh stood unmoving as Sokka stomped closer, every step squelching water that disappeared in the grass. An amused glint lurked in the murky-green eyes of the spirit.

"You mean the girl who thinks she is a fish?" The dark-haired spirit prompted haughtily a smirk splitting his dark lips.

Sokka stopped, standing toe to toe with Loh and craning his neck to glare at the face of the river spirit. Loh's green eyes were so dark they were almost black, the tribesman noted.

"She's not a fish! She's. My. Sister." Each word punctuated by a firm poke of Sokka's finger into the dewy flesh of the spirit.

Glancing up, those murky-green eyes pierced through Sokka's boiling anger as the spirit's smirk slowly melted away. A pin-drop of dread ran through Sokka's heart at the Spirit's fierce expression.

"How did a pathetic human like you end up with a sister as powerful as her?" Loh asked, his words finely honed like thin slices of razor ice, Sokka flinched under the weight of the spirit's stare but he remained rooted to where he stood.

"The moment she stepped into the clearing I could feel her chi singing to my river. The raw power lurking in her…I haven't felt something like that in a long time." Loh's voice grew quiet as he looked away, Sokka staggered back half a step, freed from the river spirit's gaze.

"We didn't come to bother you, or your river, she's all the family I have left." Sokka muttered, his anger had dwindled and in its wake fatigue poured over the young warrior like hot coals.

"It's been many years since a water bender has come across my bridge. My river has hungered for one such as her and we have grown lonely while we waited." Loh admitted, looking back at his river, gurgling in its banks. "There is something beautiful about a bender's chi that sings to my river, soothes it."

Sokka was silent for a beat of time, unsure how to navigate the twisting paths of the conversation with the moody spirit. "It's been a long time since we've had any benders, she's the last of the Southern bender actually." The blue-eyed boy admitted eventually, toeing his boot through the grasses.

"Where have your benders gone? What is wrong with your tribe?" Loh asked the warrior.

Sokka looked away, guilt and worry chewing at him. Instead of watching the Spirit, he watched the river darting between trees and counted the blades of grass at his feet. "We've been attacked, a lot. The Fire Nation has gone crazy and they keep coming to our village, destroying things and murdering our villagers. They've taken all of our benders away." Sokka paused, glancing at the Spirit, attempting to gauge his reactions, but Loh was turned away from him facing the river fully.

Sokka pushed forward in the Spirit's silence. "That's why we're here, to seek guidance from the spirit walk, we think this time the Fire nation was looking for something and I'm supposed to go warn the Northern Tribe soon. I need them to give my tribe safe passage." Sokka's words were bitter, muttered into the mud by the end of his explanation.

He could feel the sting of his responsibilities pulling at him, but how could he save his tribe when he couldn't even keep Katara safe? Sokka began to ask about Katara once more but Loh's angry words stopped cut through the silence.

"The Fire Nation have overstepped themselves. They've committed heinous sins against their Spirit guardians, corrupting their temples" Loh spat. "Their greed is disgusting." Venom was thickly coiled in the Spirit's words. Sokka looked up at the writhing mass of inky hair as it twitched around the River Spirit, surprise written across his face.

"What do you mean? What have they done to their Guardians?" Sokka questioned.

Loh snidely spit at the water tribesman. "You humans know nothing! How do you expect to stop that which you don't even understand!"

"At least we're trying! What are you doing to stop them?" Sokka shot back, sore over his perceived failures.

The river spirit stood silently for a moment, long enough passed that Sokka's anger simmered and regret slid through his thoughts. Monk Gwian's warning about respect rung through his head and Sokka began to worry he had overstepped himself. Katara was still missing and now he was yelling at her captor, which also happened to be the guardian of the bridge. Things couldn't fall further apart, the blue-eyed warrior dismayed.

"We can communicate with each other, human, but there is little we can do. Our benders are the vessels of our will in the mortal world." Loh sneered, but the words held less malice and more thought than before. "Many of the Fire Nation Guardians have stopped speaking, their temples have gone dark. This silence can mean many things, but none are good." He paused, dark fingers calming his long, inky hair.

"Each Spirit exists between worlds, our world and yours. Passing between worlds can be difficult for some humans, but for Spirits it is natural. For example, My river runs through both worlds and so do I through it. Every spirit is connected to something, as we are the spiritual essence of a natural element." Loh stopped, watching Sokka with bright eyes. "Due to that, we all influence the natural order of the world, there is a balance that must be maintained. A sacred order to life and human bending is part of that. It is our gift to you, a tiny essence, a blossom of connection into our world; to the balance of the elements."

Loh turned to face Sokka more fully, leaving the scene of his river behind. "But for some humans, the honor we bestow isn't enough, greed consumes them and they begin to take more and more. The balance between the elements is delicate and when one begins to overrule the others the effect can be monstrous."

"That is exactly why the Fire Nation needs to be stopped! They're monsters!" Sokka exclaimed, throwing his hands out as he began pacing. "They're evil!"

"No, balance must be restored. Not one element is evil. They are equal forces of life and destruction. Balance requires both, you must exist in harmony, the same that we must." Loh insisted. "We fear what has caused the spirits in the Fire Nation to begin going silent. Channels that never close have been opened between the worlds, power leaves ours in gushes, yet, we know not where it goes." Loh explained.

Loh held out his hands, palms upwards to the young warrior. Sokka hesitantly grasped the damp hands of the Spirit, feeling a buzz run through him the moment they touched. "I grant you access to walk among the Spirits as you must complete your journey to the North. The Monks there must give your story to Tui and La, the original Water Spirits. They are the greatest powers over water, far stronger than me as I can not leave my river, yet, they spend more time in the mortal world than their own and may not know of our suspicions. I fear the true nature of the Fire Nation's mockery of their spirit connections."

Sokka bowed, attempting to hide his amazement over the direction his goading of the river spirit had taken. The Spirit's hands buzzed against Sokka's mocha skin, a current running through his system. "Loh…" He began, hoping not to push his luck with the volatile spirit as the blessing ended, yet, Sokka remained bowed. "Loh, I need Katara back for the walk and for my journey to the North. She has to come with me." Sokka pleaded, hope quivering in his stomach.

The River Spirit didn't answer. Sokka's nerves began to writhe with worry as the silence stretched longer between them. A loud trickle of water began crashing into the river to his side and Sokka quickly turned to glance. There he saw Katara rising from her water confines, lying upon a bed made of river water and floating above the currents. Thin ribbons of the water supported her as chunks of the water fell back into the rushing currents below. Sokka broke away from the River Spirit, rushing to the muddy banks to greet her. The watery bed floated her closer to shore until she lay upon the grass, the river muck that clung to her skin began dissolving back into the river at its Master's call.

Her long dark hair streamed in wet ribbons around her face. Sokka's heart clenched when her eyes stayed closed and his own blue eyes drifted towards her lips, tinged in blue. She didn't move, breath had been chased from he replaced with water he was sure.

"What…what happened? What did you do!" Sokka screamed as he shook her gently, his world slowly dissolving around him. Frantically he searched for breath or a heartbeat or any sign of life he knew. Instead, clear liquid dribbled from her blue tinged lips, running in a thin rivulet down her cheek and chin.

"As I said, we have hungered. Her energy sang to my river so beautifully, I had to have her within my waters. If she had been weaker, she wouldn't have heard my call at all, but then again I wouldn't have heard hers as strongly either." Loh admitted.

Sokka glanced up as the River Spirit neared them, walking as languidly as the element he helped give life to, seemingly at ease in contrast to what he was saying. Sokka stared unblinkingly at the ashen-skinned Spirit, feeling dumbfounded and tricked and sick to his very core. Loh seemed immune to the riot of Sokka's emotions though, glancing at the dead girl and her brother, with little shame in his eyes.

"She was just drowning the whole time we were talking? But I looked, she wasn't anywhere." He whispered, tracing the curve of her cheek and the arch of her nose. Grasping her cold hand, so very freezing in his own, he bowed his head over her and the horror of his realization crashed upon him as he began to sob.

Loh stood near them, watching as tears tracked themselves over the boy's mocha skin, dripping onto the girl who had sung so prettily for him while she struggled. Loh shifted, he hadn't meant for this to happen. It had been so long since a bender had last visited, his river had gotten excited and he hadn't felt the need to stop it. The grief before him made the Spirit uncomfortable. It made something at the back of his mind itch with recognition but Loh was unsure what the meaning was meant to be.

"All life passes on, in the end, Water Tribe Warrior. She would have left your world at one point or another. We gave to her our gift and she came back to us at the end." Loh spoke stiffly, realizing that the feeling tickling the back of his mind was guilt. He recalled the delicious memory of her struggle; her franticness when her energy slowly left and the sweetness that filled him when she sang for him in those final moments. The memory soured though under the brunt of the boy's accusations. The sweetness the inky haired Spirit recalled turned bitter, like ashes in his mouth.

"But not yet, not now!" Sokka screamed, rocking over her cold little hand with each delicate, calloused finger. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"This is the balance of water. We give life. We give death." Loh explained, attempting to calm the weeping human before him. Loh stepped closer as he spoke before kneeling across from Sokka on the muddy river bank.

Sokka reached out quickly, grasping the scaled forearm of the River Spirit in front of him. He held so tightly he could feel the individual ridges on the scales, the way they bit into the skin of his hand. He leaned forward over Katara's figure, reddened eyes demanding Loh to look away from the grief was written clearly across Sokka's face. "Give her back, put what you stole back and I'll keep my mission to the North, I'll do what you asked. I'll give you whatever you want!" Sokka pleaded, voice breaking over the words. Loh was already shaking his head, inky hair dripping over his shoulders and brushing the girl laid between them.

"It doesn't work like that, Human. I took her water-song in, her Chi, and made it part of my own. Life to death., a cycle of balance. To give it back…I would give part of myself with it. You don't understand what you're asking for." Loh objected, dark eyes wide as he gaped at the demanding warrior who still held his arm in a clenched, vice grip.

"I don't care! I don't care what it does as long as she comes back! I swear I will never leave the Southern Pole without her. The whole world can burn and fall out of balance and whatever else you're so scared of but I'll never help stop it if it helps you!" Sokka spat at the River Spirit. Warning bells rang in the back of his head, warnings of respect and how easy it was for Loh to take Katara from him dimly pooled in the back of his mind, but he was past the point of caring. What did it matter anyway?

"She won't be the way you remember if I do that. Spirits have many connections they can form with a mortal, but we always leave a slice of ourselves behind. What you're demanding…it's one of the highest blessings, but she'll never fully leave the Spirit world behind. She'll carry a connection to here, to me, for as long as she walks the mortal world." Loh explained, ire returning to his voice, twisting his arm free from the insolent tribesman's grasp.

"She's the daughter of the Chief and I promise she will be the last water bender that ever comes here if you don't fix this. You and your cursed river will be alone for a long, long time." Sokka's words were hard when they poured from his mouth and Loh blinked once. Twice. The gall of the man in front of him burned the River Spirit, Sokka's insolence and disrespect coloured Loh's thoughts with irritation, the tribesman's continual demands grated on the Spirit. Then came an echoing in the recesses of his memory, of the loneliness and cravings for attention his river went through for all those years they spent in isolation. The years alone, while the waterbenders were missing from the Spirit world.

No, Loh thought with a shudder, he couldn't go through that loneliness again. That aching starvation had caused this little bender's death, to begin with, it had all been an accident. Breathing deeply, Loh calmed his temper. Moody green eyes met startlingly blue. "You will see the grievances the Fire Nation have caused through until the world finds balance again. Then, she will make you regret what you have done to her." The words were muttered by the feral spirit, and Sokka felt the weight of them settle against the base of his spine, an unwanted vow burning under his skin.

Loh leaned over Katara's still form before Sokka could fathom a response to the strange warning. Sokka watched as the River Spirit placed his grey hands on Katara, one resting above her heart and one cradling the back of her neck. The murky green-eyes closed as he rotated a hand over her chest, pulling it in a circular motion before leading it to her mouth. Sokka watched as water begin to flow from her mouth, a steady river of muck driven out by the Spirit's motions. It pooled in the grasses around them, so much water that Sokka couldn't imagine it all fitting in her tiny body. It disappeared soon after leaving her body, drifting back towards the river and leaving the grass around them dry once more. When the water stopped flowing from her, Loh and the clearing were silent and unmoving for a beat of time.

Then, Sokka observed as she began to glow. What began as a faint light building under her mocha skin grew until staring at her left black spots across his vision. Leaving him with spotted blindness even as the glow grew brighter still. Then it was gone, like a storm cloud passing over the sun, the glow that poured from under her skin burnt out. Peeking out from light dazzled eyes, Sokka glimpsed Loh's hand pushing into Katara's chest; through the furs and linens, skin and bone his mottled grey hand sunk and then before the tribesman could feel the outrage and disgust building in his throat, it was over. Katara rolled, a sputtering sound caught between a cough and gasp tore from her mouth as she curled on her side. Lashes fluttered as she caught her breath and Sokka felt something rekindle in his chest at the sight of her moving. Tears stung in his eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to notice as his world was drowned out by her breathing again.

He snagged her in a fierce hug, laughter falling from his mouth beneath gulping sobs as he cradled her damp form to himself, relishing in her movements and sputtering breaths. He'd follow his promises to the River Spirit to the ends of the Earth, his sister was alive and consequences could smother him before he'd regret knowing she would live again.

 **Well….all I can say is I promise this chapter will make more sense as we follow the story! It all happened for a reason :)**

 **What'd you guys think? Any guesses on what happens next? Drop me a review and share!**

 **Next prompt is 'Piece'**


	11. Arc one, Piece

**Ch 11 Piece. Hello to our new readers! Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed 3**

 **Piece**

When Katara woke, the first thing she noticed was the sun high above her, its bright light sending pin-pricks into her too-blue eyes. Secondly, everything was slow. Her body felt heavy as if she was pushing through a fog made of thousands of tiny hands, each one grabbing at her and pulling her down.

She was exhausted and that exhaustion pulsed through every fingertip.

Closing her eyes against the bright sun, she attempted to grasp the images that danced against her eyelids. The feel of endless water tickled her memories, the currents had drunk her soul and the swallowed her whole, rushing through her head. In her mind a figure floated on the currents of murky water, inky hair radiating in a dark halo with a smile cut like a razor stared back at her. She knew him, this razor mouthed man.

But who was he? What happened?

Her thoughts scattered as her stomach rolled, pushing onto her side she saw the grass swim into focus before murky water fell from her mouth in a violent torrent.

"Tara!" The familiar voice of her brother called as he rushed to her side. She felt the warmth of his hand as he pulled her long tangled hair from her face and the murky water. Warmth radiated through her as his fingers rested gently on her skin and she dimly realized how cold she was, as if every bit of warmth she had, had been stolen from her and she may never feel warm again.

"I told you it would take her some time." A voice that sounded like water running over rocks called, dark amusement in the lilt of his words.

"You're still surprised that I wouldn't trust you?" Her brother snorted.

Wiping her mouth she searched for the speaker and found only the razor mouthed man from her stilted dreams. Meeting his dark gaze sent shivers jumping through her fingers; watching him made the current thrumming in her mind surge, not painfully but grating, in a way that made her exhaustion call to her again. Dropping her head to rest on the rough braces strapped over her tunic sleeves, she tried to remember; what had happened?

Thoughts poked out at her, memories tickling her mind. She remembered stepping into the clearing. The beautiful Spirit Bridge with its so very green leaves and vines that waved at her in the breeze had shown itself finally. There had been a river under it. One that twinkled under the sunlight and sang to her bending in a way the glaciers of her homeland never had. The currents had called to something inside of her…the memory of wanting, no, needing to touch the water had been overwhelming. She had ached to feel the cool water under her.

…Then nothing. Just the murky remnants of her dream visions swirling through her thoughts.

Sokka's fingers continued to gather her long, damp hair away from her chilled face, his deft hands twinning it out of the way.

"Sokka, what's going on?" She croaked, finding her throat raw.

Pushing to sit up, she turned to keep both her brother and the strangely familiar man in her sight. His features tweaked uncomfortably, a tilt of his brows, a twist of his mouth and she knew she wasn't going to like whatever he had to say. Surprisingly, the ashen-skinned man spoke before Sokka.

"You decided to go for a swim in my river. Unsurprising, really, little bender but water in the spirit world is so much more alive than you're used to. My river, she has needs and didn't mean to harm you." He answered as he strolled closer with the languid grace that Katara had studied in the rolling tides back home.

"Harm me?" Katara echoed with her scratchy voice, eyes darting between the two men in front of her. Sokka avoided her searching gaze, fingers twisting in his lap.

"When we got here…it was exciting, but you were obsessed with the river as soon as you saw it. I kept trying to stop you but you were possessed or something. You kept trying to get at the water and so I let you. I mean, you're a waterbender, I thought you would be fine. But you weren't." He murmured, not meeting her eyes.

"Nothing happened though, I'm right here" Katara insisted, gaze bouncing from each of the silent men in front of her.

Sokka finally met her gaze, his red rimmed blue eyes stared into her, she saw the shadows hidden in them. "'Tara…you…you drowned."

She tried to see the joke, tried to tell when he would laugh and goad that 'you should have seen your face', her brother wasn't one to not tell a joke just because it was inappropriate, but she couldn't see how this could be one of those times.

"I couldn't have drowned, I'm not dead." Katara responded, shaking her head slowly, still waiting for the punch line.

The grey skinned spirit stepped forward in response. "Of course not, your brother made a deal. His…willingness to help the Spirit World means you have another chance at life. You both will carry the signs of your commitment to our world." Katara could feel the echo of his words, reverberating under her skin along with the vague impression of his smug amusement. His presence lurked, curled around the back of her thoughts.

"Woah, woah, woah, what does that mean?" Sokka asked, the first time she'd seen him jump past the guilt written across his face.

The Spirit turned, murky green eyes met glacier blue for a heartbeat of time before a pained gasp dropped from Sokka's lips. Sokka began to claw at the braces over his own tunic sleeves, quickly undoing the laces of the thick, blue dipped hide he shoved his sleeves up and Katara sucked in a breath at what he revealed. Slowly, as if someone were slowly etching the pattern, rather than burning it, into the mocha skin of Sokka's wrists, tiny twists of vines and leaves appeared to encircle each wrist.

"I, Loh, Guardian of the Southern Spirit Bridge, give this son of mortals the symbol of his oath and connection to his Spirit Mission to aide our world against the unbalanced scourge of Fire Nation greed in return for his sister's life." The Ashen skinned spirit intoned as the glowing vines continued to burn themselves into Sokka's skin. Twin tears trailed Sokka's cheeks as the burns flared and then grew dim once more, darkened smudges on his skin.

Loh turned his dark eyes on Katara and she braced herself for the burning pain to begin on her own wrists, but nothing came.

"Silly waterbender, you will not carry Spirit Scars. Your brother has sworn an oath to be of use to us, when the terms of the mission are met he will be released. You will never have that. Ashes to ashes, you have been reborn of the Spirit world and thus will never leave us behind. I am part of you." He voice slithered across the clearing, echoing in her mind with that same sense of amusement as before.

Questions beat like heavy snow across her thoughts. A torrent of words, but she was distracted from those questions as a spot between her shoulder blades began to itch under his steady gaze. The sense of amusement running as an undercurrent in the back of her mind shifted into something akin to boredom. Katara tried to focus on that feeling, but it slipped away from her thoughts, in front of her Loh smirked his razor smile and she felt him brush against her mind… "you have much to learn, little bender…."

What he meant grew clearer to Katara as words that were not her own whispered in her head like a final piece clicking into place. "Why are you in my mind?" She exclaimed, horror colouring her words. Sokka looked at her in alarm, but Loh only laughed.

"You're quick, very good. As I said, you have much to learn Little Bender. The monks at this temple haven't seen a spirit touched mortal in some years. Try going North, with your brother, if you want answers Little Bender." He began to rise, long limbs stretching until he stood above her. Outrage filtered through her but he merely quirked a brow and chuckled before she ever spoke. "I look forward to learning you, Katara." He offered a mottled hand to help her to her feet, but she stood on her own, staunchly ignoring his kindnesses.

Sokka scrambled to his feet next to them, grasping his hide bracers in one fist, confused anger written across his features. "This should be interesting." Loh snorted at them. Tucking his greyed hands into the loose fabric of his breeches, Loh studied the Water Tribe siblings as he began to fade. "Cross the bridge for your walk or don't but either way, leave." His only parting words, faded with him until only the two siblings were left in the clearing.

After he was gone the clearing looked the same as when they had entered, as bright and harmless, with a bridge made of vines that fluttered in the breeze and a river that bubbled along the banks. The only movement came from the siblings as Katara threw herself into Sokka's arms, burying her face as shame and tears burned her skin.

Everything was the same, yet it was all different, as one found them-self scarred for a mission taken in desperation and the other was no longer fully from the mortal or spirit world.

 **And…Katara is alive again….sorry for scaring anyone. I'm sorry this chapter took a moment to get out; life is pretty busy right now. I've started new classes for my degree, we're trying to buy a house and it's not going as smooth as I hoped, then work and the holidays. I am working on the next chapter though, so I hope to have it up soon!**

 **Next chapter is Sail! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think! I love feedback :D**


	12. Arc One, Sail

**Ch 12 Sail. Hello Lovelies, thank you for reading!**

 **To Guest (I wish you had signed in so I could PM you) I'm not sure if you'll read this or not, but I'd like to address your review. I read each one and think about what you all say. That's how ML became Beta, he always asks just the right question somehow! Katara isn't overpowered in chapter 2 and 3. Actually, scientifically, it's a rather simple trick she pulled. By icing over the metal grates in the helmets, she cut off the air supply of the invading firebenders without using much effort on her part. Without air, they just can't bend. That doesn't make her overpowered, rather it's a simple trick backed by science. Not that she knows much about science and fire vs oxygen, she was angry and wanted them to shut up/go away.**

 **I hope everyone had a great holiday! I'm so sorry about how late this is, life has been super-ridiculously crazy. This house buying bizarreness I've gotten wrapped up in, my coursework and everything else is just so much, plus all the kids had their end of semester class crunches…. So, I really tried to push through and just get this as finished as possible for you guys. All of you readers keep this story going and this chapter isn't as finished as I wanted but I hope you guys like it. The next bit should be coming in the next week.**

 **Sail**

Time passed, counted in breaths and heartbeats as the eternal sun blazed down on the spirit clearing. The Spirit touched siblings were dabs of blue against the green grass, huddled together near the river's mucky edge. Tears cooled into salt tracks upon fevered skin as time passed. The urge to move forward began to grow in Katara's mind, a wriggling thought shining through her bone weary exhaustion; surely they had spent enough time by the river edge in the deceitfully peaceful meadow? She shifted, pulling away from Sokka, determined not to glimpse the soul scars etched around his wrists.

Loh's words circled her thoughts as she attempted to brush the dried muck from her parka. He claimed that they would both carry signs of their pact with the spirits, but where Sokka wore the circle of vines and leaves burned onto his skin in clear sight, her own wrists her smooth and blemish free. Could Loh have been wrong? Maybe she had given enough to the razor mouthed spirit, he had drunk her soul and then poured it back into her, like she was a water vessel rather than a soul and a body. Maybe she wouldn't carry any scars of her own? Shaking the thoughts away as guilt over her own vanity blossomed she turned to Sokka, only to find the haunted look from earlier still caught in his eyes.

"Sokka…" She began before looking away, unsure what to say. Bitter words and apologies clogged her throat. 'Sorry for drowning myself in some crazy water spirit's idea of a joke?' just didn't seem right. Talking about it seemed impossible, the whole thing seemed impossible. She hadn't even figured out her own thoughts yet, wouldn't it be better to just keep going? Couldn't they deal with it all later?

Watching the bridge faintly sway in the wind was easier than watching the shadows dance in his eyes, they reminded her too much of when their mother had passed and then later when their father left for battle, leaving them behind. She couldn't bear to see those same shadows and know that this time they were her own fault. Why hadn't Monk Gwian warned them about any of this?

"We should get the rest of this over with unless you want to just go back? We don't have to keep going." She offered, not sure what she was hoping his answer would be and in the silence around them she counted the tiny puffs of his breath

"No, let's just do this. We can…we're gonna talk about this later." His reply was strained, stilted, she wondered if he didn't actually want to go further into the Spirit World. The Spirit touched girl almost offered to turn around again, to go back to the mortal realm where at least she knew what was trying to kill her, but she knew her brother's pride would stop him from admitting that he was scared of this place. Steeling her shoulders and the quake of her fingers, she stepped forward. One step, then another until they were almost at the bridge and the shake of her fingers was barely there.

They stopped at the base of the bridge. Thick, glossy leaves waved at her, growing out of wide, fleshy vines and branches. The bridge looked long, impossibly long, as it arched over the gurgling river waters. She glanced at Sokka, his features cast in the angry tilt of a scowl and somehow the furrow of his brow was easier to handle than the shadows in his eyes. Taking his hand, she quirked a small smile at his questioning gaze and tugged him forward. "Come on. We can do this."

As Katara pulled him forward, they crossed over the bridge, finding footings amongst the tangles of vines and branches below them. When Katara stepped, she could see the river thrashing in the banks beneath the bridge, though the gurgling of the water was gone. The world had gone silent. The further they walked, the longer it seemed they had to go, never seeming to get closer to the other side. Fog began to rise from the riverbed, creeping between the boughs of the bridge until she could barely see her elephant seal boots below her. Still, they walked. They walked as the silence became deafening. They walked as the fog rose and thickened and they began tripping over the uneven boughs and planks. They walked until, though she could feel her brother's hand in her own, she could no longer see him next to her because the fog was so thick. Each step left her all the more determined to reach the end.

The difference in step between uneven branches and soft dirt was instant and a strong gust of wind smelling of the earth and forest blew over them, pushing back the fog until a small clearing was visible in the dewy haze that surrounded them. The entire clearing looked weathered as if it had exhaled and hadn't caught its breath yet. Sparse trees clumped together enclosed the small clearing, leaving room in the center for trampled grasses and a beautifully carved, wooden pole. The wood was dark as it stretched high above them and the trees. The carvings were painted in smoky whites, crushed blues and red clays, tiny details embedded in wide swaths of the design.

"Sokka! It's a Totem pole! It looks just like the one we used to have in the Village!" Katara exclaimed as she edged closer to the pole. She was able to pick out smaller details through the fog as she approached. The tiny etching marks formed the animals of the pole. Looking down she could see, in front of the carved pole, lay a shallow bowl of water and eight small, wooden cups. The bowl rested upon a mat of dried flowers intricately woven together, and clips of herbs and petals floated lazily on the water. She turned to Sokka, only to find him at the edge of the clearing still frowning at the Totem.

"I don't like this Katara, something doesn't feel right about this place." He called, watching the clearing as if he were expecting an attack at any moment.

Glancing between the totem and her brother she tried to see what he saw, but the clearing just looked a little sad to her, forgotten. The grasses lay in tattered clumps throughout the clearing, and when she looked to the forest around them she noticed full branches were broken, snapped like kindling, and left on the forest floor. The whole clearing felt abandoned.

"Do you think that when those soldiers burned our Totem down that it hurt the one here?" She asked, glancing back at her brother's hunched figure in the growing fog. He looked in her direction, but just past her, as if he couldn't quite see where she was anymore. His figure became more shrouded by the mist and Katara stepped closer to the Totem as shadows began to dart through the fog. Reaching out she felt the cool wood of the Totem under her hands, as she tried to ground herself in the thickening mists. "Sokka?" She called out, searching for him and straining to hear any answer in return.

She felt a presence in the back of her mind, a chilled current rippling through her thoughts "Good, little bender, the realm of Mortals affects us more than we care for. Your worship strengthens us, your destruction weakens us."… "Loh?" She whispered as she watched the shadows creep through the fog, circling the Totem. "Are you here?" She whispered again feeling the stir of her thoughts. "You walk beside Spirits far older than my river and I. Have respect, have strength…" She could almost picture the slash of his lips, the flash of his murky eyes, as his words filled her head again. She knew when his presence shifted away from her as she felt her thoughts invade the spaces he left behind in her mind. Sweat trickled down her spine as she eyed a shadow so large, it towered over her.

"S-Sokka!" She called out again. Silence met her words as the shadows moved quicker. Fleeting shapes that shifted and moved through the fog. Licking her lips, she had an idea. "Please, don't hurt him! We-We've come to pay our respects." She called out to the shadows, hoping she had understood Loh's meaning. She tried to fight the quiver growing in her fingers, the fear lacing her blood making her thoughts heavy. She felt the rough carvings of the Totem as she clenched her fingers against the nerves. The shadows around her slowed after a moment. Hope began to smother the oily fear leaching through her system.

"Please, would you deny us the passages of our ancestors, deny yourself the respects you deserve?" She called out to the slowing shadows as the fog began to dissipate. Feeling emboldened she called once more "We wish to walk with the spirits and tell our fate."

Once more a sharp gust of wind blew through the clearing, bringing the smell of earth and the forests, as the shadows faded into the trees with the worst of the fog. Through the dim haze, she saw Sokka's blue parka, bright against the misty air as he wandered over the clumps of sick grasses.

Relief broke through her, "Sokka, over here!" His wanderings stopped as he looked at her, still clutching onto the Totem pole. He made his way through the clearing towards her. When he reached Katara's side, he crushed her to himself, gripping the thick hide of her parka. "I could hear you, but I couldn't see anything. I couldn't find you." He whispered and her relief vanished as she saw the shadows had returned to his face, haunting his eyes. The same uncomfortable guilt from the river drowned her as she hugged him back with her free hand, refusing to let go of the Totem pole with the other.

"Sokka it's okay, I think they're just lonely. Our Totem at the village was ruined by those awful Fire Nation soldiers. We can't lay offerings or hold our festivals anymore, at least not in a way the spirits can understand. I think they think we abandoned them." Katara explained as she pulled away from her brother. He frowned at her, a crease between his eyes, thinking over her words. He looked towards the Totem, his hand following the carvings and outlining the creatures.

"Dad told me once, that we should pray not because of respect, but because of fear. I never understood what he meant, but I think I get it now." He murmured. He glanced back at her, a guilty smile pulling at his lips, "I never learned any of the chants, dad tried but hunting was a lot more fun." He shrugged, but Katara spotted the guilty blush growing under his mocha skin. She laughed, "I think we can figure something out."

She knelt in front of the Totem, studying the animals of her tribe and the herb water. Each totem animal was sacred to her tribe, spiritual leaders they could turn too. The Ocra sprouted from the dirt, bearing the weight of the others. Next came the Dolphin, who held the Polar Dog and then a proudly antlered Moose who in turn supported the Arctic Fox and then the Snowy Owl. The Arctic Wolf howled above the owl and the Lion Turtle was highest of them all. The detailing was immaculate, a true heirloom of her tribe and she felt pride blossom in her chest even as she racked her brain to remember what each of them represented. Sokka knelt next to her and she glanced at him as her fingers twisted themselves in her lap.

"What about the rhyme Gran-Gran sings all the time? I think I remember most of it." Katara offered. Sokka was silent for a moment, a furrow between his brows. "Her cooking song? That might work." He answered slowly, flashing a brief smile.

"If we make them happy maybe they'll help with the Spirit walk?" He asked her quietly, but she didn't know. It seemed spirits were more wild than tame and she couldn't fathom their reactions. She shrugged in response.

"Do we drink the water before or after the chant?" Katara asked, looking at the small bowl propped up in front of them. His brow twitched at her question, "Gah! I don't know 'Tara, probably before?" he answered, rubbing his face in annoyance. She tried to not let his frustration sting, she knew he hated not knowing the answer, but she bristled anyway.

"Well since you're so sure." She muttered as she began to push up her sleeves so they would stay dry as she scooped the water.

Delicately she picked up the small wooden cups, they were as smooth as the Totem she noted, before dipping them gently into the cool water. Handing one to Sokka and keeping the other for herself, they knelt facing the Totem. Katara waited for a heartbeat of time before glancing towards Sokka. He noticed her stare and grimaced before clearing his throat.

"Spirits, we, uh, thank you for watching over our tribe. We request your continued guidance and your help as we try to walk with you today! We offer you our prayer and song." Sokka's voice echoed in the small clearing as he addressed the shadow spirits they knew lurked in the trees.

Bowing their heads, they drank from their wooden cups, the tang of over sweet flowers settled on Katara's tongue and she felt the cloying flavours snake their way into her mind, settling like a thick blanket of snow over her thoughts.

Twisting her fingers with Sokka's, she studied the creatures of the Totem as they seemed to lose their rigid shape and come to life. The blanket settled heavier over her mind, chilling her. The fog began to roll back in. Sokka began to sing next to her and Katara blinked at the moving creatures of the Totem before her voice joined his.

The fog moved closer as they sang and shadows danced in the mist. The taste of the flowered water weighed on her mind as Katara kept her heavy-lidded gaze on the Totem. Each line they sang honored one of the Totem creatures which, when honored, grew from the carved wood and joined the shadowed Spirit dance in the circling fog. She didn't want to think about what could happen after they had finished singing.

"Father of the days, Mother of the nights;

We need your blessings and bask in your lights.

We walk with your guidance, spirits show the way,

Grant us balance as fluid as the ocean;

Instill the joy of harmonious days,

Lend strength of character for all transformations.

Spirits feed us so we may grow resilience,

We walk with authority over choice;

Lend creation to our intelligence,

Teach us awareness, empower our voice.

Great Wolf, give freedom to our family.

Oh, Lion Turtle Earth, teach us prudence.

May you guide us with honor, steadily

As we embrace you without hesitance.

We live with your blessings, and feed your lights,

Guides from the Dawn of our life 'till the Night."

The fog around them swirled faster as the end of the song approached. When the song ended the fog and shadow spirits burst away from the ground and into the sky above them in a riot of colours. The spirits danced through a sea of lights, flashes of greens, blues, purples, and golds flared to life dazzling the siblings below in the suddenly empty clearing. Katara blinked her heavy lids once, then twice and then they stayed closed as the blanket of snow over her thoughts grew deeper.

O.O.O

Bleary blue eyes fluttered opened later. Katara woke, leaning against Sokka's snoring form in front of the Totem. The lights still shined brightly, multi-hued colours sparkling above her, and with the fog of the clearing lifted, the lights could shine across the grasses around them turning them shades of blue and purple. The clearing looked refreshed, she noted, thick grasses fluttered in the breeze, the trees were firm and tall now that all the broken branches were gone. The spirit clearing truly had been abandoned before. She idly wondered if she and the other women of the tribe would be able to lift a new Totem in the Village center once it was safe to return. If it would ever be safe to return, she dismayed.

Shaking her morose thoughts from her mind, she reached over to wake her brother. "Sokka…" She called, shaking him slightly. She tried pushing on him harder, but when he only snored louder she knew he wouldn't wake until he was ready. Frowning at him, she stood, stretching her stiff muscles after falling asleep in the kneeling position. She walked the edge of the clearing, admiring the shimmer of the lights as they painted the grasses and sky, trying to figure out what to do next. Their song clearly had helped the spirits, but it didn't help them begin the Spirit Walk. At least, she didn't remember anything happening, no flashes of her future or fate…just sleep.

Reaching the end of the grassy clearing, she looked into the woods watching the utterly still air between the trees. Lost in thought Katara turned to pace the clearing once more when from the corner of her eye she spotted a flash of silver light buried in the trees. Glancing at Sokka still sleeping near the Totem, she slipped between the trees and into the shadows of the forest. Katara hunted for the flickering silver light in the cool air of the shadows, curiosity spurring her search. She trailed the wisps of silver light through the trees, eventually coming to a fallen, moss-covered tree trunk deep in the forest.

O.O.O

Sokka woke with a start. The Totem towered over him, and as he scrambled to his feet, stiff and sore, he realized Katara was nowhere to be seen. The clearing was empty, the only movement coming from the Spirit lights that danced in the sky above him.

"Katara!" He yelled into the empty air, searching for her. Heading towards the forest, he glared at the quiet, dark woods before plunging into the trees. "Katara! Where are you?" He called out into the woods. The shadows chilled his skin as he searched, tripping over loose roots and ducking to avoid the low hang of branches.

"Tara!" He yelled into the thickly packed trees. He picked up his pace, running through the wood, avoiding as many twigs as he could and feeling the ones he couldn't whip into him. In his haste, he stumbled over a root hidden in the soft bed of leaves. He tripped, falling forward and sliding down a small slope. Tumbling, he landed in an ungraceful heap at the base of a fallen tree. The canopy of the trees fluttered above him in the dim lights.

"This can't be happening again." He muttered, dragging a hand over his face to clear away the dirt that had gathered. A snap sounded from under the tree. Jerking away from the tree, Sokka scrambled to his feet. A tiny silver fox padded out from a burrow under the rotting wood. Wafts of silver light fell off of the tiny Fox Spirit. Sokka sputtered, "Are you kidding me? More Spirits! Where is Katara?" He demanded of the tiny Spirit, still shaking leaves and twigs from himself.

The Spirit stopped moving, and Sokka met its dark gaze for a split second before it couched and then pounced on him. As it sailed through the air, the spirit fox changed and grew. By the time the beast collided with Sokka, it was enormous, a thick paw reaching to each shoulder and knocking him to the ground. When Sokka hit the forest floor, the breath was pushed from his chest and then he felt himself slip away from the forest and the gentle smell of leaves and rot.

He opened his eyes to blinding lights reflecting off of a sheer glacier. Below him, the ocean stretched outwards disappearing into the horizon. The massive Fox Spirit stood beside him, but before he could speak he felt the firm push of the Fox's tail shoving him off of the cliff towards the churning water below.

O.O.O

Under the mossy tree, a collection of silver wisps had gathered around a partially hidden, small silver fox. The fox faded in and out of sight, letting off puffs of silver light when it did. Katara could see the moss on the trunk through the fox's body, as it flickered in front of her.

"You must be the Fox spirit, master of adaptation. Can you help me with our Spirit Walk?" She asked, dropping into a small bow. The fox crawled out from the trunk as Katara straightened up. As it walked closer the spirit animal grew in size, every step made the tiny fox grow until it was only a few paces from Katara and already as large as a small fishing canoe. It sat before her tall and proud, its great tail swishing out and wrapping around itself. She met the spirit fox's gaze and felt herself fall away from the forest and the fox.

She closed her eyes against the rush of wind as it whipped across her face. She was falling; terror and wonder filled her throat as she tumbled through the air. She landed, not with pain but, with the soft brush of fur under her hands and the firm body of the Fox spirit beneath her. She laughed with wonder as she rode the great spirit like a mounted Polar dog into the mist ahead. It continued to run, charging into the dense fog of nothingness with abandon, as Katara scrambled to find a better hold on its neck.

Katara wondered where they were headed, or how the Spirit Fox could navigate in such thick fog, as she couldn't even see her own boots though she knew they were firmly tucked against the bright furry sides of the Spirit. They moved for an unmeasurable amount of time until the fog began to thin, the air caught the bite of a windy chill, and the great Spirit slowed her gait. As the fox finally stopped, Katara dismounted and found herself standing on the familiar crunch of shoreline ice. Her boots slid on the uneven ice as she and the Spirit Fox looked out over a steep drop into an ocean of calm water. The mist hovered around them, obscuring the sky, though Katara was able to make out the faint explosion of the spirit lights still above them.

"I don't get it, what happens now?" Katara asked, turning to face the Spirit again. She met the dark gaze of the Fox Spirit as it studied her before kneeling, waiting for her to climb back on. She expected the beast to head back towards the woods they had come from but instead, the fox turned back towards the water, its tail jutting out in a bright plume behind them before it threw them over the side of the icy ledge. A surprised scream pulled from Katara as her and the silent companion fell into the tides below.

The water felt like knives when they hit the waves, thousands of tiny pinpricks swarming her skin as they plunged further into the freezing current. She clutched at the fur of the Fox Spirit only to find the fur had become smooth under her hands. She felt the spirit under her shift, becoming larger and larger and she was scrambling to hold on as they dove deeper under the surface. The currents pulled at her the further down they dove, Katara searched for a hold on the slick skin beneath her until she was able to grasp a large fin on the back of the Spirit Creature.

O.O.O

Sokka plunged into the water, barely managing to find his way to the surface of the choppy waves. He could feel the bite of the cold soaking through his clothes as they began to weigh him down. Struggling to keep his head above the rough waters he frantically looked around for the Fox Spirit or land, but the ocean was wide and empty. He watched as the waves crashed violently against the glacier wall before a wave broke across his back and he went under the choppy waters. The salt of the water stung his eyes as he searched for the dim light of the surface, feeling the swirl of the waves around him. Breaking to the top of the water, he gasped for air before noticing a long black fin had broken the surface of the waves.

Sokka watched the waters as the beast swam closer, shadowing the waves. He felt the massive creature nudge him as the currents rippled out from the beast, as it came closer and closer to the surface. Dread curled in the pit of his stomach as he watched the looming shadow come closer and closer. Then a massive black and white whale crested, spraying a geyser of water into the air around them. The Spirit beast turned flashing a hallows grin crammed with dark teeth at him, before pulling the blue-clad warrior under the waves.

The air bubbled from his lungs as they plunged deeper into the water. Sokka struggled against the currents and the Spirit Whale but found he couldn't break free. They swam lower and lower into the dark waters, the pressure of the ocean mounting above them. The tribesman desperately racked his brain trying to remember what the Whale Spirit meant to the tribe as panic and water began to smother his thoughts.

Dimly, he remembered the whale spirit brought balance and fluidity to his people. That doesn't help! Sokka thought bitterly as the pressure of the great ocean became too much and he fell away from the water, the spirits and himself into nothingness.

 **So, a lot of this is pulled from research that was done about real Inuit tribes. The Tribal animal symbolism, the religions elements being out of fear rather than respect it's all based on real cultural elements which I thought was fascinating.**

 **This is kind of a 'part one' chapter, it was taking so long to get this one out that I would rather post what I have and get the rest of it out to you as I go, rather than wait and post it all in one massively long chapter… Let me know what you guys prefer!**

 **I'm thinking another chapter may make it out this week, but ultimately I'm working on getting back to the weekly updates!**

 **Please don't forget to follow and review -reading them really does make my day and reminds me that you guys do care what happens! lol :3 Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/followed so far 3**


	13. Arc one, The Whale Spirit Visions

**Hello everyone! I know, isn't this crazy-a new update already?! I was super inspired by the reviews and Favourites from the last chapter and it pushed me a little further to get out this chapter for you :D**

 **Well here it is, the next part, I'm not technically counting this as a 'chapter' it's more like an interlude… I didn't want to lump all of the visions into one long post, because I felt like it might get confusing or just really long. So, this is the first set of visions lead by the Whale Spirit. I'm planning on doing two or more updates a week while we work through the vision/interlude/chapters**

 **Thank you to all of the new reviewers and favourites! I love reading your feedback, it helps keep me going sometimes!**

 **The Whale Visions**

Katara gripped the wide fin tightly as the Spirit Creature swam them to the darkest depths of the ocean. Her chi sang in harmony with the currents around her, though she realized there was little she could do with her own element while in the presence of the Spirits. The weight of the water pressed on her mind as she reached out to the ocean around her. The chill of the shadowed depths had sunk into her bones, a deep burning freeze crippling her senses. Despite this, her chi sang a warning that they were quickly reaching the ocean floor. She could feel the water drifting over ice and sand below them but the Spirit did not change course. Bracing for the impact of the dense ocean floor, Katara gasped when instead she felt the break of the water and air against her skin. She gasped for breath as she looked around at her new surroundings. She found herself riding the great Spirit Whale in the soft waters of a bay, under a sky streaked with the colours of sunset. An isle of trees and flowers lay at the head of the bay.

Above her swirled a maelstrom of water and air, seemingly guided by two benders locked in a fierce battle. The air blasted into the waterbender above her as the benders raged, but their words were lost to the shriek of the winds. Katara tried to make out their faces, but their features were blurred through the storm of ice and water around them. She watched as the waterbender above pushed forward a massive shelf of ice, attempting to shield herself from the onslaught of the airbender's attacks. He pushed forward with a fresh blast of air and the force of the impact shattered the wall of ice. The fractured ice scattered in the wind, raining down into the waves as the waterbender was thrown into the air before crashing into the water below.

Katara tried to summon her bending to aid the fallen waterbender, but the water around her wouldn't respond, just as before when she swam the oceans with the Whale Spirit. The fallen bender still hadn't surfaced moments later and Katara attempted to dive from the spirit Whale to go after her but she found herself unable to move from the beast. Frustration curled into Katara's thoughts as the water around her and the Spirit Whale began to bubble, swirling into a whirlpool. From the center of the whirlpool burst the fallen bender, but Katara gasped as she recognized the bender. The bender was her. She was older; her face had thinned and her hair was longer; but Katara realized with dread that this was her fighting the airbender.

"This must be my first vision…" Katara whispered, fascinated as she watched the older copy of herself raise the vortex of water in a defensive stream against the Airbender's blast.

"Aang, you don't understand anything! I'm so tired of fighting, all I want is peace!" Vision Katara yelled at the Airbender, raising another defensive ribbon of water between herself and the attacking bender.

The airbender sobbed as the winds burst outwards from him, harder than before. Katara could hear the yelling tearing itself from his throat "No! I understand perfectly, you've betrayed us all!" Katara watched as the bright orange smudge of his robes whipped around in the gales as he summoned tentacles of wind that broke through Vision Katara's defenses, sending her crashing into the waters below once more. Katara shielded herself as the splash of the impact poured over her and the Spirit Whale.

When she opened her eyes, again, the scene had changed.

O.O.O.

The first thing Sokka noticed when he opened his eyes was the world was underwater, a rippling blur of shapes and sounds. The second thing was the faint glow of the Spirit Whale, which had shrunken impossibly small, and was barely the size of his own Boomerang now. The third thing was that he couldn't breathe.

The Tribesman sat up sputtering and coughing in the middle of an unfamiliar town. He was waist deep in a large, cream stone fountain, surrounded by tall, proudly built, buildings in a cobblestone circle. Each of the buildings was engraved with intricately woven stones and mosaics, bright colours jumping out of the cream and sand coloured scene. Behind the buildings rose a dusty mountain peak. Low lying clouds floated across the rooftops, lazily dragging over chimneys and weather-vanes. People dressed in shades of greens and browns, mulling around on the cobbled street. Sokka tried to catch someone's attention, waving his dripping arms from the fountain ring.

"Hey, where are we?" Sokka called out as a woman passed by. She had black hair in a high bun, with a thick swath of messy bangs under a wide headband. The dress she wore was long, done in cream and gold silks and glittered with encrusted gems. She had soft features and could have been pretty but a scowl marred her expression. A portly attendant was leading her by the elbow though the street and Sokka watched as the attendant's grip tightened when the girl irritably muttered about her overbearing parents.

"Okay, maybe not her." The tribesman muttered, looking away. He tried to stand from the sparkling water of the fountain only to find he couldn't. His hands merely passed through the stones of the wall.

"What the?" Sokka muttered, brows furrowed in confusion as he watched his hands phase through the stones again. Before he could figure out what was happening, a hailstorm of fire began to rain down on the cobbled street from the clouds. The large comets of fire crashed into the stones and buildings as people screamed, running for cover in the arched doorways of the buildings.

A man ran forward from the crowd in to the street before taking a bender's stance and creating a ridge of stones to shield the rest of the people stranded between the buildings. The thick clouds above puckered as the balls of fire continued to fall, spreading licks of flame and smoke across the plaza. As Sokka watched the balls of flame punch through the clouds, he saw a girl with singed brown hair and a burnt blue tunic tumble through the air. She landed in a heap among the the roiling flames, hidden in the rubble and smoke. The balls of flame stopped falling through the clouds soon after her crash.

As the smoke cleared, curling away from the girl's impact, the earthbender from before began to flatten the stone wall he had raised to protect the others. The flames crackled quietly on the stones, slowly burning out against the dirt between the bricks. The smoke drifted away, as people came out of hiding. The rubble shifted and cleared under the moves of the earthbender and Sokka felt his stomach clench as he recognized the girl that had fallen into the street.

"Katara!" Sokka screamed as he tried to scramble forward from the fountain and reach her, but again he only phased through the bricks not able to move. The earthbender took a new stance, bending buckets from the stones of the street. Each bucket dunked into the fountain to pour water over the remaining flames.

Sokka ducked as one of the stone buckets came flying straight towards him, when he sat back up the scene had changed.

 **So, what do you guys think? Any guesses or thoughts on the visions so far? The chant from before hints at what the various spirit animals represent to the tribe, and those representations shape each vision that Katara and Sokka will experience. Any guesses on what the Whale Spirit represents?**

 **Please don't forget to follow and review -reading them really does make my day and reminds me that you guys do care what happens! lol :3 Thank you again to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/followed so far 3**


	14. A note for you all

Hello, all of my wonderful readers!

Unfortunately, this isn't an update and I'm very sorry about that. I just felt the need to let you all know this story isn't dead or forgotten. I know many of you are monitoring for the next update and it's been a while since I've been able to get the next chapter out and I feel awful about the time lapse. Life is attempting to run me over again. I'm currently working 75-ish hours a week spread between two jobs and I'm still working on my bachelor's full time. I just haven't had the time to keep working on this project (or anything else really, basically all I'm doing is working and go to school). I promise this is only temporary though! I should be back to updating over the summer months; we're just going to have to live through a small hiatus until then.

I'm still every bit as committed to this and seeing it through to the end-you guys just have to bear with me while I get some stuff worked out!

3

Winds of Chaos


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